Ukraine seeks to resume prisoner exchanges with Turkey's help

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated that Ukraine is trying to resume prisoner exchanges. Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council Rustem Umerov is holding a series of meetings in Turkey to facilitate this. Zelenskyy announced this in his evening address, as reported by UNN.

Today, Rustem Umerov is holding meetings in Turkey: with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Turkey, and then with intelligence. And we are trying very hard to resume exchanges in the new year, this is the key topic in the conversation with Turkey. We need this assistance to bring our Ukrainians home from Russian captivity. Last year, exchanges were active, but unfortunately, they slowed down at the end of the year, and now we need to resume them.

He noted that Umerov is also in daily contact with the American team and partners in Europe – yesterday, today.

We are preparing formats, we are preparing important meetings. January 3rd – a meeting of national security advisors in Ukraine. This is the first such meeting in Ukraine on peace. European representatives, plus we expect the American team online. And 15 countries have confirmed, plus representatives of European structures and NATO. Then on January 5th – there will be a meeting of military officials, chiefs of general staffs will meet. The main thing is security guarantees for Ukraine. Politically, almost everything is ready, and it is important to work out every detail of how the guarantees will work in the sky, on land, and at sea, if we manage to end the war. And this is the key goal for all normal people.

Recall

Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council Rustem Umerov confirmed that he had a meeting with Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan in Ankara. The discussion focused on the security situation and the return of Ukrainians.