ISTANBUL

Russian presidential aide Vladimir Medinsky on Wednesday said Moscow is ready to conduct a prisoner exchange with Ukraine, which was agreed upon during direct peace talks in Istanbul earlier this week, on June 7-9.

“We assume that it will probably be 1,200 people on each side, and this will again be the largest exchange of prisoners of war. We are ready to start, June 7, 8, 9. We, on our part, are completely ready for this,” Medinsky said while briefing President Vladimir Putin on talks held in the Turkish metropolis.

Medinsky, who led Russia’s delegation during the negotiations on Monday, said that during the talks they conveyed Putin’s position that a leaders' meeting with Ukraine is possible.

“But it needs to be substantively worked out with results, since heads of state should not work out the details of the agreement, but approve them, that is, make final decisions on previously prepared and agreed matters,” he said.

The presidential aide said that Russia handed over its draft memorandum on Moscow's vision for a peace, which he noted consisted of two parts, namely the conditions for concluding a long-term peace and the conditions for a ceasefire.

He further said Ukraine, for its part, conveyed its own position, which he said boiled down to two points, namely to start with an unconditional ceasefire and then prepare for a leaders' summit.

Medinsky said the Russian side is also ready to transfer the bodies of 6,000 Ukrainian servicemen to Kyiv “in the coming days,” and to receive those of Russian servicemen, as agreed upon during the negotiations in Istanbul.

He went on to say that humanitarian issues were “on the sidelines” of the negotiations, with the Russian side calling during the talks for a focus on developing peace conditions rather than a temporary truce.

"An effective channel of interaction has been established for all humanitarian actions. On other issues, the ball is in their court," Medinsky added.

On Monday, Istanbul hosted the second round of Russia-Ukraine peace talks after the first one, also in the Turkish metropolis, on May 16. This time, the two sides agreed to exchange more prisoners of war -- focusing on the youngest and most severely wounded -- and return the bodies of 6,000 soldiers from each side.