Putin: We are ready to hold the third round of talks with Ukraine

Putin held a press conference following the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council meeting.

In his speech, the Russian President recalled that during negotiations hosted by Türkiye in Istanbul on June 2, agreements were reached between Russia and Ukraine on the return of 6,000 frozen corpses of Ukrainian soldiers, the exchange of severely ill and wounded soldiers, and prisoners of war under the age of 25.

Putin stated, "Another exchange of prisoners took place yesterday. This is significant from a humanitarian standpoint. It creates favorable conditions for resolving the issue. We have returned more than 6,000 corpses to Ukraine. We are ready to hand over 3,000 more. The next move is up to the Ukrainian side."

Commenting on the possibility of a third round of talks with Ukraine, Putin said, "We are ready. A date and location need to be determined. I hope President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan remains committed to supporting the peace process. We are grateful to him for this. We are ready to hold the meeting in Istanbul. The heads of the Russian and Ukrainian delegations will set the date. They are in constant contact with each other, which is a good thing."

Putin also noted that Russia and Ukraine had exchanged draft memorandums for a peace agreement, stating, "These are contradictory memorandums. Negotiations are being held to find paths to convergence."