Kiev, 20 June 2025 (dpa/MIA) - Russia and Ukraine have carried out another prisoner-of-war exchange as part of a deal brokered in Istanbul earlier this month, the warring sides said on Friday.

Russia's Defence Ministry said the sixth exchange took place once again at the Ukrainian-Belarusian border.

No official figures were provided, but media reports suggest both sides released an equal number of prisoners.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed the exchange: "The majority of the fighters returning today from Russian captivity had been there for over two years," he wrote on Telegram.

Among those freed were defenders of the south-eastern port city of Mariupol in the Donetsk region, as well as soldiers captured in Luhansk, Kharkiv and Chernihiv, he said.

During talks in Turkey in early June, Moscow and Kiev agreed to a multi-stage exchange focused on soldiers under the age of 25, as well as seriously injured or gravely ill prisoners.

According to Russian President Vladimir Putin, more than 900 prisoners have been exchanged so far. Kiev has not confirmed that number. Moscow has also returned the remains of several thousand Ukrainian soldiers killed in action.

Ukraine has been defending itself against a full-scale Russian invasion for more than three years.

MIA file photo