Zelensky on the exchange: Dates are already being discussed, a matter of days or weeks
The 1,000-for-1,000 exchange may take place in the coming days or weeks, the details are currently being agreed upon. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced this at a briefing, a LIGA.net correspondent reports.
According to him, the Ukrainian group led by Defense Minister Rustem Umerov is already discussing the exchange with the Russian side.
"I think that in the coming days and weeks we will have an appropriate result. Details and dates are already being discussed," Zelenskyy said.
Answering a journalist's question about whether children would be included in the exchange, the president said that it was about prisoners of war.
"Today we are talking about the exchange of prisoners of war. There were signals from our side regarding political prisoners and journalists. Exchanging children for soldiers... We do not support such an approach," Zelensky said.
He added that the exchange of children for prisoners of war is against all laws and is unjust.
"The children must return," he said.
- A large prisoner exchange is the only real agreement from the Ukrainian-Russian meeting in Istanbul on May 16 ( more about the negotiations here ).
The State Security Service reported that work on the exchange was already underway . The SBU also reported that it had already begun preparatory measures for the exchange . A Turkish source for CNN noted that the process would include three categories of prisoners – children, civilians and military , but this was not officially reported.
- The head of the GUR, Budanov, reported that the exchange of prisoners could take place as early as next week . The head of the Russian delegation, Medinsky, claimed that the exchange would take place in the "coming days."
