“The Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council, Rustem Umyerov, announced the decision of the parties to activate the Istanbul Agreements, under which 1,200 Ukrainians were released from Russian captivity.”, — write: www.pravda.com.ua
Rustem Umyerov, photo from his Facebook Source: Umerov u Facebook
Direct speech: “At the behest of the President of Ukraine, these days I held consultations through the mediation of partners in Turkey and the United Arab Emirates regarding the resumption of the process of exchanges and the release of our people from Russian captivity.
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As a result of these negotiations, the parties agreed to activate the Istanbul Agreements. We are talking about the release of 1,200 Ukrainians.”
Details: Umerov said that technical consultations will be held in the near future, which should fix all procedural and organizational points.
“We are working non-stop so that Ukrainians who have to return from captivity can celebrate the New Year and Christmas holidays at home – at the family table and next to their relatives,” he added.
What preceded: On November 11, Umerov announced that he had arrived in Turkey to “unblock the issue of exchanges” for the return of Ukrainians from captivity in the Russian Federation.
At the same time, the source of “Ukrainian Pravda” reported that the Coordination Headquarters, which deals with exchange processes, learned about Umerov’s trip from the media.
For reference: As a result of three rounds of negotiations, agreements were reached in Istanbul. In particular, about the exchange of “all for all” in the categories of seriously ill and seriously injured defenders, as well as defenders younger than 25 years old. Given the complexity of negotiations with the aggressor state, this type of exchange was allocated to a separate case.
In addition, there are ongoing negotiations with the Russian Federation regarding scheduled exchanges.
For the last time, 185 military and 20 civilian Ukrainians were freed from Russian captivity on October 2 – part of them were exchanged in accordance with the agreements in Istanbul, part – within the framework of the next, 69th exchange.
In July 2025, kThe heads of the Ukrainian and Russian delegations at the negotiations in Istanbul, Rustem Umyerov and Volodymyr Medynskyi, announced an agreement to exchange more than 1,200 prisoners of war from each side.