Russia and Ukraine agree to swap 1,000 POWs in first face-to-face peace talks in 3 years

RUSSIA and Ukraine agreed to swap 1,000 prisoners of war yesterday in the first face-to-face peace talks in three years. 

The two sides agreed the exchange, the largest of the conflict so far, during a near two-hour meeting in Turkey. 

But the talks in Istanbul broke up after Russia demanded Ukraine withdraw troops from its own territory — which Moscow has been unable to conquer — as a precondition of any ceasefire. 

The Kremlin claims to have annexed Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson after staging sham referendums in parts of the provinces it does control. 

The votes were widely condemned and Russia is yet to capture any of the provinces completely. 

Ukraine rejected Russia’s “non-starter” demands and challenged President Vladimir Putin, who has rejected ceasefire calls, to meet Ukraine’s leader Volodymyr Zelensky. 

Russia’s foreign ministry called Zelensky a “clown and a loser”.

Shortly after the Turkey talks, President Zelensky spoke with US President Donald Trump and PM Sir Keir Starmer. 

US President Trump repeated claims yesterday that only he and Putin can end the war. 

Separately, footage appeared to show a successful Ukrainian missile strike on a Russian ammunition dump in occupied Crimea.