MOSCOW, August 7. /TASS/. One thousand Ukrainian prisoners of war that the Kiev regime removed from exchange lists do not include any officers with the majority of them being soldiers and sailors, a source in military diplomatic circles told TASS.
According to the source, there is not a single officer in the list, about 70% of them are soldiers, privates and sailors. Additionally, more than 140 individuals are from among the mobilized population.
Earlier, Russian Presidential Aide Vladimir Medinsky, who led the Russian delegation at negotiations with Ukraine, said that Kiev had rejected 1,000 captured Ukrainian soldiers within the framework of the prisoners of war exchange deal with Russia which complicated the second round of the swaps while the third one has not yet started.
Istanbul hosted the third round of direct Russia-Ukraine talks on July 23. The expanded meeting lasted about 40 minutes, with the parties discussing their draft memorandums on ways to resolve the crisis. Russia and Ukraine agreed to exchange civilians along with service members.
Russia invited Ukraine to set up three online working groups to address political, military and humanitarian issues. In addition, Moscow offered to transfer the bodies of another 3,000 Ukrainian troops to Kiev and resume short humanitarian pauses on the frontline in order to collect the wounded and the dead.