Saraliev reports new stage of POWs exchange with Ukraine

The third stage of prisoners-of-war (POWs) exchange with Ukraine was held in accordance with the agreements reached on June 2 in Istanbul, Shamsail Saraliev, a Russian State Duma MP from Chechnya, has reported today.

On June 2, the second round of talks of Russian and Ukrainian delegations took place in Istanbul. The parties agreed to exchange seriously ill POWs and those aged under 25 according to the formula "all for all".

Another group of Russian servicemen is returning from Ukrainian captivity to their homeland, in exchange for which a group of POWs was also transferred to Ukraine, Shamsail Saraliev, an MP from Chechnya, reported on June 12 in his Telegram channel, indicating that this is already the third stage of the POW exchange.

The first POW exchange with Ukraine was held on June 9, and the second one – on June 10, as follows from other posts in Saraliev's Telegram channel.

Currently, Russian servicemen are in the territory of the Republic of Belarus, where they are receiving the necessary care; then they will all be delivered to Russia, the Russian Ministry of Defence (MoD) has reported in its Telegram channel.

However, neither the MoD's report, nor Saraliev's posts on POW exchange contain information on the number of POWs returned to Russia. In the comments to today's Saraliev’s post about the third stage of POW exchange, many users asked to publish the lists of those returned to Russia from Ukrainian captivity.

This was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on June 12, 2025 at 11:59 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.