Following peace talks in Turkey, Russia and Ukraine announced on Tuesday that they had completed a prisoner exchange involving seriously wounded and sick soldiers. This exchange came a day after the two countries carried out a swap of prisoners under the age of 25. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed that this marks the first phase of repatriating Ukraine’s critically injured soldiers, all of whom require immediate medical attention. "We are making every effort to locate and bring back all our prisoners," he said. Russia’s Defense Ministry stated that Russian prisoners were first transported to Belarus, located between the two warring nations, before being returned to Russia for treatment and rehabilitation.