More POWs were exchanged after the third round of direct peace talks between Ukraine and Russia concluded in Istanbul on Tuesday, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
The negotiations were completed in just 40 minutes during the evening, according to Russian state media. No further talks are expected during this gathering.
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“Seriously ill and severely wounded defenders are returning home,” Zelensky said in a statement on Telegram shortly after the talks ended.
“We can now talk about the details – over 1,000 of our people have been returned through all the stages of the recent Istanbul agreements.”
The president said little more about the results of the talks, focusing on the POW exchanges instead.
“It is important that exchanges continue, and our people return home,” he said. “We will continue all efforts to ensure that all our people return from captivity.”
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Ukrainian National Security and Defense Council Secretary Rustem Umerov met one-on-one with Russian presidential aide Vladimir Medinsky, following earlier meetings in Ankara between Ukraine’s delegation and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the Russian news agency TASS reported.
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan also participated briefly in a preparatory discussion, RBC-Ukraine reported.
Earlier in the day, the Ukrainian delegation held talks in Ankara with Erdogan, one of the few international leaders maintaining direct dialogue with both Kyiv and Moscow.
The Ukrainian delegation includes top officials from military intelligence, the Foreign Ministry, and the Presidential Office – among them the office’s head Andriy Yermak, First Deputy Foreign Minister Sergiy Kyslytsya, and deputy military intelligence chief Vadym Skybytskyi.
The Russian delegation remains unchanged and is again headed by Medinsky, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said.
President Volodymyr Zelensky has identified three main priorities for the third round of negotiations:
- Further prisoner exchanges of both civilians and military personnel
- The return of abducted Ukrainian children
- A meeting between Zelensky and Putin, and calls for an immediate, total ceasefire
While Kyiv continues to push for a 30-day unconditional ceasefire – a position backed by the United States – Moscow has rejected it, with Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov saying there are “no changes” to Russia’s maximalist war aims and that a high-level Putin-Zelensky meeting must be preceded by extensive preparatory work.
Zelensky has also expressed openness to a face-to-face meeting with Putin, but the Russian leader has so far refused to attend in person, opting instead to send lower-level officials.
This third round of direct talks follows two other meetings held earlier this year – the first formal negotiations between the two sides in over three years.
Despite limited progress, several prisoner-of-war (POW) exchanges have been carried out as a result of the talks.
The peace process may have gained new momentum after US President Donald Trump publicly threatened to impose severe new tariffs on Russia and its sanctions-busting customers unless it agrees to end the war within 50 days.
That warning came on July 14, with the Trump administration now playing a more forceful role in pressuring both sides.
This is a developing story and will be updated as more information is made available.
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