The bodies of 1,212 Ukrainian soldiers have been returned from Russia, Kyiv says, as part of a prisoner exchange agreement between the warring countries. In return Russia received 27 bodies, Moscow’s chief negotiator Vladimir Medinsky said. The prisoner exchange deal was the only tangible result of peace talks in Turkey last week, with both sides...
A prisoner exchange is under way between Russia and Ukraine, governments in Moscow and Kyiv have confirmed. Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky said the exchange would unfold “in several stages” over the coming days, adding that the wounded, seriously wounded and soldiers under 25 were being returned. Writing on Telegram, Zelensky said: “The process is quite...
A second round of peace talks between Russia and Ukraine have ended without a major breakthrough, and only an agreement between the warring sides to swap more prisoners of war. The Ukrainian negotiators said Russia again rejected an “unconditional ceasefire” – a key demand by Kyiv and its allies in Europe and the US. The...
Russia and Ukraine were set to take part in a major prisoner swap on Friday, described as the biggest since the start of the full-scale Russian invasion in 2022. Officials from both countries agreed to exchange 1,000 prisoners of war each, during otherwise fruitless peace negotiations in Istanbul a week ago. US President Donald Trump...
More than three years into Europe’s deadliest war since 1945, there was a small step forward for democracy on Friday. Delegations from Ukraine and Russia came face to face for talks for the first time since March 2022 – one month after Moscow invaded its neighbour. The setting was an Ottoman- era palace on the...
El Salvador’s president has offered to repatriate 252 Venezuelans deported by the US and imprisoned in his country – if Venezuela releases the same number of political prisoners. Nayib Bukele appealed directly to Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro in a post on social media. He said many of the Venezuelan deportees had committed “rape and murder”,...
A Russian-American citizen has been released in a prisoner swap between Moscow and Washington. Amateur ballerina Ksenia Karelina, a Los Angeles resident, had been in prison in Russia for over a year, after being arrested in the city of Yekaterinburg in early 2024. She was found guilty of treason for donating money to a US-based...
Exeter Seed Bank is holding its third annual seed swap on Sunday 2 March with hands-on activities, stalls and displays and a programme of talks at two Sidwell Street venues. The event begins at 11am with talks from noon. Attendees can add to a map showing the locations of Exeter’s growing spaces and groups. There...