Russian President Vladimir Putin stated in Minsk, Belarus, on the 27th local time, that after implementing and completing the agreement reached with Ukraine in Istanbul, Turkey, earlier,
Russia and Ukraine will hold their third round of negotiations. Russia is fully prepared for this.
During his visit to the meeting of the Supreme Council of the Eurasian Economic Commission in Minsk, Putin mentioned in a press conference held afterward that the heads of the negotiation teams from Russia and Ukraine have maintained close contact and exchanged calls. The theme of the next round of negotiations will be the discussion of a draft memorandum on the two countries’ conflict resolution plans.
Putin noted that the exchange of prisoners of war between Russia and Ukraine is significant, creating conditions for substantive discussions on the essence of the issues. He stated that Russia has handed over 6,000 soldier remains to Ukraine, and preparations are underway to transfer another 3,000 Ukrainian soldier remains.
Ukrainian Defense Minister says Ukraine plans to advance leader meetings
On the same day, Ukrainian Defense Minister Mykhailo Mamyryov revealed in an interview with the media that after discussing humanitarian issues, Ukraine plans to advance its leader-to-leader meetings and hopes to engage in substantive dialogue.
Andrei Yusof, spokesperson for the Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, stated on the 27th that despite numerous difficulties, the prisoner exchange negotiations based on the Istanbul agreement are still advancing steadily.
On February 2nd, representatives from Russia and Ukraine held their second round of direct negotiations in Istanbul, agreeing to exchange all severely wounded and critically ill prisoners “all for all” and to massively exchange prisoners under the age of 25 and the remains of deceased military personnel. According to the prisoner exchange agreement agreed upon during this round of negotiations, Russia and Ukraine agreed to exchange at least 1,000 prisoners each, with Russia handing over 6,000 Ukrainian soldier remains.
The Russia-Ukraine conflict has attracted multifaceted competition.