In a rare breakthrough amid ongoing hostilities, Russia and Ukraine have agreed to a significant prisoner exchange and the return of thousands of fallen soldiers during direct negotiations held in Istanbul, Turkey. Despite the humanitarian progress, peace talks remain at a standstill.

The two delegations convened on Monday at the historic Ciragan Palace in Istanbul. Following the meeting, officials from both nations confirmed that the deal includes the exchange of all seriously wounded prisoners of war and captured soldiers between the ages of 18 and 25. The agreement also covers the repatriation of the remains of over 6,000 soldiers who died in combat.

“We agreed to exchange all-for-all seriously wounded and seriously sick prisoners of war. The second category is young soldiers who are from 18 to 25 years old – all-for-all,” said Ukraine’s lead negotiator and Defence Minister Rustem Umerov.

Russia’s representative, Vladimir Medinsky, stated that the swap will involve “at least 1,000” individuals on each side, surpassing the scale of a similar exchange conducted after previous talks in May.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, speaking from Vilnius, Lithuania, confirmed that the two parties had exchanged formal documents through Turkish mediation and that Kyiv was preparing for the next group of captives to return.

Despite the successful humanitarian arrangement, the talks failed to advance toward a ceasefire or broader resolution. This marks the second high-level dialogue between the two countries in less than a month, with both sessions resulting in major prisoner exchanges but no meaningful steps toward ending the war.

“The exchange of prisoners seems to be the diplomatic channel that actually works between Russia and Ukraine,” noted Al Jazeera correspondent Dmitry Medvedenko from Istanbul. “We’ve seen prisoner exchanges throughout the war, but never at the scale facilitated by these recent Istanbul discussions.”

In addition to the swap, Ukraine submitted a list of children allegedly abducted by Russian forces and formally demanded their return, according to Andriy Yermak, chief of staff to President Zelenskyy.

As military conflict continues on the ground, prisoner swaps have emerged as one of the few functioning diplomatic mechanisms between the two nations.