Moscow: Russia and Ukraine are preparing for another prisoner exchange and lists are being agreed upon, Dimitry Peskov, the Presidential Press Secretary, stated in Moscow on Thursday.
“Work is underway to coordinate the lists. This is the most difficult part of this work, and it is proceeding very quickly,” the Kremlin spokesman said.
Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov announced earlier that Russia had agreed to US President Donald Trump’s initiative to establish a ceasefire with Ukraine from May 9 to 11 and conduct a “1,000 for 1,000” prisoner exchange with Kyiv during this period, stated Russia’s state-owned Tass news agency.
This ceasefire was announced ahead of celebrations of the 81st anniversary of the Soviet people’s victory in World War II.
The relevant services of the Russian Federation and Ukraine were actively working on prisoner lists and, if an agreement was reached, the exchange would begin, Ushakov added.
On May 11, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that Ukraine has submitted to the Russian side a list of 1,000 detainees for the planned prisoner exchange.
According to Ukraine’s presidential press service, he also stressed that the conflict with Russia must be brought to an end and reliable security must be guaranteed.
“Now (Russian President Vladimir) Putin himself says that he is finally ready for real meetings. We pushed him a little toward this, and we have long been ready for such meetings ourselves — now a format must be found,” he said.
The “special military operation” by the Russian troops is continuing following the end of the ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine, the Russian Ministry of Defence stated on May 12.
Moscow also accused Kyiv of committing 30,383 cases of ceasefire violations during the ceasefire in the “special operation zone.”
(IANS)
