MOSCOW / ISTANBUL

Russia and Ukraine concluded a third round of peace talks in Istanbul, Türkiye on Wednesday, during which they agreed on a new prisoner exchange with at least 1,200 people from each side.

The meeting between the two countries’ delegations began around 8.37 pm local time (1737GMT) and ended around 9.16 pm (1816GMT).

Following the talks, Vladimir Medinsky, the head of the Russian delegation, said Russia suggested forming three online working groups, each of them addressing different subject areas – political, humanitarian and military.

He said that both sides completed an earlier exchange involving 1,200 prisoners of war from each side, but confirmed that they also agreed on a new prisoner swap in the same format, with Moscow proposing exchanging not only military personnel but also civilians, including around 30 people that Ukraine captured in Russia's Kursk region last year.

Medinsky also said that Russia has so far returned around 7,000 bodies of fallen Ukrainian soldiers and offered to transfer 3,000 more and receive any number of its own deceased soldiers from Ukraine.

"As soon as the Ukrainian side is technically ready to receive them, the remains of the deceased will be transferred to Ukraine with the assistance of the Red Cross," he said.

Moscow also called for declaring 24- to 48-hour ceasefires to evacuate wounded soldiers and reclaim the bodies of dead soldiers, he added.

"We have once again proposed to the Ukrainian side to consider what we believe is a critically important measure: declaring short-term ceasefires (24-48 hours) along the line of combat contact. This would allow medical teams to evacuate the wounded and enable commanders to recover the bodies of fallen soldiers," he said.

Currently in the so-called "gray zone," medical evacuation teams face extreme risks when retrieving wounded soldiers due to persistent drone patrols, making operations dangerously unpredictable, he said.

"Concerning claims about tens of thousands of children supposedly taken from Ukraine, we have thoroughly reviewed the complete list of 339 Ukrainian children provided to us. Each name and surname has been processed, and some children have already been returned to Ukraine. Work continues on the remaining cases. If legal parents, close relatives, or legal representatives are located, these children will be immediately repatriated."

Commenting on Ukraine's claims about the "deportation" of children, Medinsky said the majority of children on Kyiv's list submitted to Moscow for return to Ukraine were never actually in Russia.

"Most likely, they are somewhere in Europe. We have no information about their current location," he said.

As for the children that are currently in Russia, should their parents or close relatives be identified, he vowed that they will be returned without delay.

Responding to a proposal by Ukraine to organize a presidential meeting by August, Medinsky said preliminary work must be done on what would be discussed at this meeting.

"It's not about discussing the agreement at this meeting, but rather putting a full stop and signing it. Holding a meeting to start discussing everything from scratch again makes no sense," he said.

Addressing rumors that there will be no fourth round of talks between Moscow and Kyiv, Medinsky said: "We hope it will take place."