Zelenskyy: Ukraine is negotiating to return 1000 more people from Russian captivity

Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Photo: Office of the President

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said that Ukraine is seeking to release a thousand people from Russian captivity, and work is currently underway on the relevant lists.

This was reported by «Interfax-Ukraine».

«Rustem Umierov spoke with Medinskyi (Putin's aide) about the exchange — they are in contact. We want to take 1,000 people, we are working on the lists,» the head of state said during a meeting with journalists on Friday.

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At the same time, the president noted that the Ukrainian side is ready to meet with the Russian delegation, but such negotiations should bring results.

«We have read all their memoranda, we know them well. And they have read ours — they have studied them very well. They know what they want, and we know what we want. We can simply meet with them without any progress — and it is these empty meetings that are beneficial to them, but it does not bring us closer to peace,» he stressed.

According to Zelenskyy, after previous contacts, the Russian side did not fulfil the agreements.

«The Russians lied once again, because after the meeting, there was supposed to be an agreement on the exchange, as well as on the format in which the leaders meet to try to agree on the end of the war, on a particular stage. But after the meeting, there was only an agreement on an exchange,» Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.

The President believes that Moscow is delaying the process:

«They came back and said: «Let the exchange take place, the civilians... after the civilians, there will be a call with Rustem, we will discuss further». They had a call. Now they say: «We probably need to do something else — technical meetings». That is, they are delaying everything,» he added.

Earlier, NikVesti reported that the bodies of 1,000 dead soldiers were returned to Ukraine.