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Zelenskyy: Next Round of Istanbul Talks to Focus on Civilian Detainees and Journalists
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![Photo of Maryna Kulakova]( "Photo of Maryna Kulakova")
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has announced that Ukraine and Russia have agreed on the exchange of 1,200 prisoners of war, calling it a major step forward in ongoing negotiations to bring Ukrainians home from Russian captivity. The President stated this while speaking with journalists on July 24, as reported by the UNITED24 Media correspondent.
“We have agreed on the exchange of 1,200 prisoners of war,” Zelenskyy confirmed. “This is something we’ve been working on for a long time, and I believe it’s an important achievement.”
The deal, brokered with Türkiye’s involvement following the third round of talks in Istanbul, also opens the door to a broader effort to secure the release of civilians—specifically political prisoners and journalists—who remain unlawfully detained by Russia. According to Zelenskyy, both sides are now compiling lists, but Ukraine maintains that civilians cannot be treated as bargaining chips.
“This category includes political prisoners and journalists,” Zelenskyy said. “But we cannot exchange civilians. They must be released by Russia. That’s the principle we’re standing by.”
The initiative signals a shift in negotiations that until now have largely centered on battlefield combatants. Ukraine has repeatedly raised the issue of Russia’s imprisonment of civilians, including Crimean Tatars, Ukrainian activists, and independent reporters.
Zelenskyy added that talks have reached a point where discussions about the release of civilians are finally being taken seriously by the Russian side—an outcome he attributes not only to diplomacy but to recent developments inside Russian territory.
“A lot has happened on their territory besides negotiations,” he said, alluding to operations that may have added pressure on Moscow. “And that has moved the conversation forward.”
While the prospect of a full-scale diplomatic resolution remains distant, Zelenskyy emphasized that any lasting peace will require a high-level meeting between leaders.
“We need an end to the war, and that probably begins with a meeting of leaders,” he said. “We’re now working on the agenda for such a meeting—and the fact that this is being discussed at all is already a kind of progress.”
Zelenskyy has dismissed Russia’s latest claims that Kyiv is holding 20 Russian children and 30 residents from the Kursk region, calling it a fabricated narrative aimed at deflecting from Moscow’s failures and applying pressure on Ukraine.
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“We don’t have their children. This seems to be some new narrative they’ve started,” he said. “Frankly, I’m not surprised.”
Zelenskyy linked the accusation to a familiar pattern of Kremlin disinformation, noting that similar shifts occurred when Ukraine exposed Russia’s refusal to retrieve its fallen soldiers.
“As soon as we said they weren’t collecting their dead, they started proposing body exchanges,” he said. “It used to happen quietly on the battlefield, but now they’re ramping up media pressure to flip the story.”
Previously, during talks in Istanbul, Ukraine proposed to the Russian side the idea of holding a leaders' meeting by the end of August, with Turkish President Erdogan and US President Donald Trump in attendance.
This was reported by Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council, Rustem Umerov, following the meeting of the delegations on July 23.
-24ca8683eb01b729cd8fae98f952003a.jpg "Ukrainian Ratel-S drone equipped with a downed Shahed warhead. (Source: omelyanovi4/Instagram)")
-0158b6b681e3668f470de36aedad9e3c.jpg "Russian Su-24 bomber moments before Ukrainian drone strike, Crimea. (Source: HUR)")
