Talks in Istanbul: Ukraine demands the return of children deported by Russia

Ukraine’s Defence Minister Rustem Umierov, who heads the Ukrainian delegation, said that Monday’s meeting was the first time that Ukraine had seen Russia’s proposals for a ceasefire and an end to the war. Moscow has still not responded to Ukraine’s proposals.

Illustrative image. Photo credits: Reuters

“Our teams will have a week to review the documents, after which we will be able to coordinate next steps,” he said.

Ukraine’s foreign ministry spokesperson, Heorhii Tykhyy, said Ukraine needs to “study it” before deciding on “further steps.” He added that commenting before going through it would be “irresponsible.”

Tykhyy said that more meetings make sense if they pave the way for Zelensky and Putin to meet.

During a second round of peace talks, the two countries agreed to “focus on specific categories rather than numbers” regarding the release of prisoners of war.

“We have agreed on an all-for-all exchange of seriously wounded and seriously ill prisoners of war. The second category is young soldiers between the ages of 18 and 25, all-for-all as well. We have also agreed on a 6,000-for-6,000 exchange of bodies of fallen soldiers,” Umerov said.

Vadym Skibitskyi, the representative of Ukraine’s Defence Intelligence, added that agreements on a specific exchange mechanism had been reached in Istanbul.

“Today, we have made new progress – the so-called all-for-all format. Today, we agreed on two categories [of prisoners of war] that will be subject to return to their homeland, we agreed on the mechanisms, and we determined the preliminary terms of this exchange.”

Skibitskyy said that many verifications will be necessary to determine all categories so that no one is lost or forgotten.

Ukrainian President’s chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, said that Ukraine handed Russia a list of children who “need to be returned” during today’s meeting, BBC News reported.

He suggested this concerns “hundreds” of children, underlining that their return is an “integral part” of achieving peace in the long run.

“The ball is in Russia’s court. True good faith is not words, but actions. And now is the time to prove it,” Yermak said.

Foreign Correspondent for the Economist, Oliver Carroll, citing this source with knowledge of the exchanges, said that the head of the Russian delegation, Vladimir Medinsky, answered to this: “Don’t put on a show for bleeding-heart European old ladies with no children of their own”.

BBC’s Hugo Bachega commented that both sides are under pressure from US President Donald Trump to reach a deal: Ukraine needs US military support while Russia wants the easing of economic sanctions, and some believe that is how Moscow is engaging in these talks, without a clear intention of striking a truce.

Ukrainian officials say Russia is planning a summer offensive, possibly to try to seize more Ukrainian territory. Meanwhile, Russian officials continue to voice demands that Ukraine have already rejected as unacceptable.

The Ukrainian negotiators said Russia again rejected an “unconditional ceasefire” for at least 30 days – a key demand by Kyiv and its allies in Europe and the US. The Russian team said it had proposed a two-to-three-day truce “in certain areas” of the vast front line, and that next week, Russia would hand over to Kyiv the bodies of 6,000 Ukrainian soldiers.

Elsewhere, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky appeared alongside Nato members in Vilnius. He accused Moscow of “playing games” and called for further sanctions.

At a briefing, he criticised Russia’s proposal for a two- or three-day ceasefire “to take the bodies of fallen soldiers from the battlefield”, Ukrinform news agency reported. Ukrainian President considers the head of the Russian delegation, Mediskyy, incompetent, who doesn’t know that there is a constant exchange of fallen soldiers on the frontline, and for that purpose, there is no need to meet both leaders of the countries.  

Zelesnkyy stated that the Russian Federation is not ready for a ceasefire. 

“I think they are idiots, because, in principle, a ceasefire is meant to ensure that there are no casualties,” Zelenskyy added.

The president believes Russia sees the ceasefire as “just a matter of a short pause in the war”.

“That is why I really want our American partners to take strong steps and send a package of sanctions to the Senate, to push the Russians to cease fire with strong sanctions. They don’t understand any other way, and we believe that this is fair,” Zelenskyy said.

Zelenskyy added that “after all, it’s been three months since the US signalled support for a complete ceasefire, and we supported them”.

The Ukrainian delegation also criticised Russia again for not allowing the United States to attend this meeting or the one last month. They say someone needs to monitor the talks, and the United States is best placed to do this.

Moreover, the President of Ukraine said at a briefing that out of the 6,000 bodies of soldiers that Russia wants to return to Ukraine, only 15% have been identified, making verification crucial. He emphasized that the issue required careful examination. He revealed that he had instructed Defence Minister Rustem Umierov to thoroughly investigate the matter.

Zelenskyy stressed that all Ukrainian soldiers must be brought back, but warned that Ukraine had previously experienced cases where Russia had included bodies of Russian soldiers among those they claimed were Ukrainian.

Ukraine urges the international community to unite to restore global security under the UN Charter and strengthen sanctions against Russia to enforce compliance with international law. Following Russia’s initial invasion in 2014, Ukraine has pursued the liberation of its territories within its internationally recognised 1991 borders while developing comprehensive reintegration strategies and policies for all liberated areas.