At Historic Meeting, Russia, Ukraine Reach Deal On Exchange of 2000 POWs
By Yadnom Awu/
Asaba
Talks between Russia and Ukraine began on a slow, shaky note today in Istanbul, Turkiye, but a faint glimmer of hope found expression in their mutual deal on prisoner exchange.
The talks had initially raised hope of a breakthrough but much of that was doused when Russian President, Vladimir Viktor Putin indicated he would not appear at the historic talks, the first between officials of both nations in three years.
Following Putin’s publication of his intention to stay away from the talks, Ukrainian leader, Wladimyr Zelensky, also said he would stay away and even alleged, at the close of today ‘s talks, that Putin was “afraid” to attend the talks.
Zelensky did not provide evidence of how he came to the conclusion, and insisted that there must not be preconditions for the talks which he wants at the highest level of political and diplomatic ladder of both countries.
But Putin thinks otherwise, putting a welter of stiff preconditions, including pausing Ukraine ‘s aspiration to join NATO and being allowed to hold and to annex swathes of territories it has seized from Ukraine.
Against the backdrop of these seemingly irreconcilable differences in their positions, today’ s talks dwelt on only peripheral issues deemed only tangential to Ukraine’ s desire for a prompt enduring ceasefire deal.
After two hours of cagey talks, both sides agreed to a mutual exchange of Prisoners of War (POWs).
By the terms of the agreement, both countries will exchange 1000 POWs for an equal number of POWs with the other.
However, it remains unclear when the actual implementation of the deal will begin.
The deal came on a day that Russia handed over to Ukraine the bodies of 909 soldiers it killed during the conflict which began in February 2022, when Russia invaded its neighbour,citing the security risks it posed to Russia.
