Ukraine Rejects Russia's Claim That It Postponed Large-Scale Prisoner Swap

Russia on June 7 accused Ukraine of postponing a large-scale exchange of captured soldiers, claiming that Kyiv said "do not correspond with reality."

- 

KYIV -

The statements came hours after Moscow's army launched a barrage of missiles, drones, and bombs across Ukraine.

Kyiv and Moscow agreed to release all wounded soldiers and those aged under 25 who had been captured, with both sides saying the exchange was set for the weekend.

The prisoner-of-war (POW) swap—to involve more than 1,000 people on each side—along with an agreement to hand over the bodies of thousands of killed soldiers, was the only concrete outcome of a second round of peace talks in Istanbul on June 2.

Russia has rejected Ukraine's calls for an unconditional ceasefire, drawing accusations that Moscow has no desire to halt its three-year-old invasion.

"The Ukrainian side has unexpectedly postponed for an indefinite period both the acceptance of the bodies and the exchange of prisoners of war," Russia's top negotiator Vladimir Medinsky said on social media. Mr. Medinsky said Russia had taken the bodies of 1,212 killed Ukrainian soldiers to the "exchange area"—the first of 6,000 to be handed over.