Russia, Ukraine agree new prisoner swap in Turkey

ANKARA: Russia and Ukraine on Wednesday agreed a new prisoner swap during rare talks in Turkey during which they also discussed the creation of a “humanitarian corridor” in the war zone.

Ukraine’s human rights ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets met his Russian counterpart Tatyana Moskalkova on the sidelines of an international conference in Ankara attended by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Moskalkova told reporters after the meeting that they had agreed to exchange “more than 40 prisoners” from each side.

Lubinets mentioned no figures in his own comments to reporters after three hours of talks.

Russia, Ukraine exchange 50 soldiers each in prison release deal

“The meetings are not over. We will continue,” he said.

Lubinets and Moskalkova were expected to officially exchange the lists and any other potential agreements during another meeting on Thursday.

Ukraine and Russia have been able to agree prisoner swaps despite unrelenting fighting over the last 11 months.

NATO member Turkey has maintained good relations with both Kyiv and Moscow while trying to arrange formal peace talks.

It hosted two unsuccessful rounds of talks in the first months of Russia’s invasion and then helped to broker a deal that allowed Ukrainian grain shipments to resume across the Black Sea.

Turkish rights ombudsman Seref Malkoc helped to mediate Wednesday’s meeting.

“The two commissioners expressed a common demand – to open a humanitarian corridor under the auspices of Recep Tayyip Erdogan, similar to the grain corridor,” Malkoc said.

Erdogan later told the international conference that he was “ready” to oversee a “corridor for the wounded”.