MOSCOW

The Russian Defense Ministry announced on Monday that Moscow and Kyiv had exchanged the first group of servicemen under the age of 25 in the first round of a large-scale swap carried out under an agreement reached in Istanbul last week.

The ministry did not specify the number of servicemen, noting that "an equivalent number of prisoners of war" were exchanged with Ukraine.

According to the ministry, the returned Russian servicemen and civilians are currently in Belarus, where they are receiving psychological support and medical care.

All the repatriated individuals will be transferred to medical facilities in Russia for further treatment and rehabilitation, it said.