The Russian Defense Ministry has announced the second prisoner swap with Ukraine following yesterday’s exchange of POWs under the age of 25.
On Monday, June 9, 2025, Russia and Ukraine exchanged prisoners of war under the age of 25 after direct talks in the Turkish city of Istanbul.
“On June 10, in accordance with the Russian-Ukrainian agreements reached on June 2 in Istanbul, the second group of Russian servicemen was returned from the territory controlled by the Kyiv regime.
“In exchange, a group of prisoners of war of the Ukrainian Armed Forces was transferred.”
Russian Defense Ministry
The ministry said that Russian military personnel are now in neighbouring Belarus, where they were receiving medical assistance.
It added that “all Russian servicemen will be transported to the Russian Federation for treatment and rehabilitation in medical institutions of the Russian Defense Ministry.”
The Ukrainian President posted photos of prisoners of war returned as part of an exchange with Russia.
“We continue the return of our people as agreed in Istanbul. Today marks the first stage of the return of our injured and severely wounded warriors from Russian captivity. All of them require immediate medical attention.
“The exchanges are to continue. We are doing everything we can to find and return every single person who is in captivity. I am grateful to everyone who is contributing to this effort.”
Volodymyr Zelenskyy
Zakharova Condemns Kyiv’s Refusal To Accept Bodies Of Fallen Soldiers
Meanwhile, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman, Maria Zakharova criticized Ukraine’s refusal to accept the bodies of Ukrainian service members.
Russian Presidential Aide Vladimir Medinsky, who heads Moscow’s delegation to the talks with Ukraine, said earlier that on June 6, in strict accordance with the Istanbul agreements, Russia launched a humanitarian operation to transfer the bodies of over 6,000 fallen Ukrainian service members over to Ukraine, as well as to exchange wounded and seriously ill prisoners of war and prisoners of war under the age of 25.
However, Ukraine unexpectedly moved to indefinitely postpone accepting the bodies.
Addressing the Forum of the Future 2050, she emphasized, “There is not a single world religion, tradition or human experience that would not require the bodies of warriors to be taken back.”
“This is a disgrace for the entire country. This highlights the great tragedy that people are facing today, having lost their dignity because of liberal ideas.
“In all these years, there has never been clearer evidence of the Kiev regime and its sponsors losing their human nature. It’s not even their attitude to the living but their attitude to the dead that says it all.”
Maria Zakharova
She claimed that the West is using the “Kiev neo-Nazis” to kill people, including those it considers its own. “Moreover, it refuses to accept them, while Russia recovers their bodies, identifies them and insists that they be taken back to be buried,” Zakharova underlined.
Rodion Miroshnik, the Russian Foreign Ministry’s ambassador-at-large told a news agency that Russia has completely fulfilled the agreements, “the ball is in Ukraine’s court, and the responsibility for the official reaction to the humanitarian initiative proposed by Russia rests with the Kiev regime.”
He added that Ukrainian authorities do not want to accept the bodies of their soldiers because such a number of fatalities undermines all narratives promoted by Ukrainian propaganda.
READ ALSO: Communications Minister Pursues Data Sector Overhaul, Vows to Tackle Inherited Lapses
