Russia, Ukraine carry out prisoner swap

MOSCOW/KYIV — Both Russia and Ukraine sent back more prisoners on Sunday in the latest series of exchanges, the two sides said.

"On Aug 24, 146 Russian servicemen were returned", the Russian defense ministry said on the Telegram messaging app.

"In exchange, 146 prisoners of war of the Ukrainian Armed Forces were transferred" to Ukraine, it said.

The Russian ministry said all of the freed Russians were in Belarus receiving psychological and medical assistance.

Russia also said "eight citizens of the Russian Federation — residents of the Kursk region, illegally detained" by Kyiv, were also returned.

Large-scale prisoner exchanges were the only tangible result of three rounds of talks between Russia and Ukraine in Istanbul between May and July.

They remain one of the few areas of cooperation between the two countries since the conflict began.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, writing on Telegram, announced that the exchange had taken place, but gave no figures.

Zelensky thanked the United Arab Emirates for its role in overseeing the swap.

"The exchanges are continuing. Perhaps that is possible because of our soldiers, who are increasing the exchange fund for Ukraine," the president wrote.

The Ukrainian military issued a statement confirming that a total of 146 prisoners from each side had been swapped.

Zelensky insisted on Sunday that a meeting with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin remained "the most effective way forward".

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov earlier said the Western countries were seeking "a pretext to block negotiations".

Lavrov said on Friday that a meeting between Putin and Zelensky is not being planned.

Intense diplomatic efforts have been underway in recent weeks to end the conflict in Ukraine.

Following the meeting between Putin and US President Donald Trump in the US state of Alaska, Trump held talks with Zelensky and European leaders last Monday.

A stream of high-ranking officials visited Kyiv in recent days in a bid to resolve the Ukraine crisis, with the latest being Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store in the Ukraine's capital on Monday.

With the conflict raging on, fighting continues on the battlefield.

Ukrainian Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrsky said on Sunday that three other villages had been reclaimed in Donetsk, which has emerged as the focal point for peace talks.

The drone attacks in Russia on Sunday included one shot down over the Kursk Nuclear Power Plant in the west.

The plant said a fire sparked by the drone had been extinguished and there were no casualties or increased radiation levels.

Agencies - Xinhua