An exchange of large -scale prisoners between Russia and Ukraine, the only concrete result of peace conversations, was doubted on Saturday after Moscow and kyiv were accused of delaying and frustrating the exchange.
The resistance to an exchange that both parties said that this weekend occurred when the Moscow army launched a barrage of missiles, drones and bombs throughout the country during the night and during Saturday, killing at least 10 people.
In the conversations in Istanbul on Monday, kyiv and Moscow agreed to free all wounded soldiers and those under 25 who had captured the leg, more than 1,000 people on each side.
Russia said it would also return the remains of 6,000 dead Ukrainian soldiers.
Moscow accused Ukraine on Saturday of not appearing to collect the bodies and not accept a date to change the captured soldiers, while kyiv said that Russia was playing “dirty games” by not sticking to the parameters agreed by spending.
“The Ukrainian side has unexpectedly postponed for an indefinite period of both the acceptance of the bodies and the exchange of prisoners of war,” said Russia’s main negotiator Vladimir Medinsky, on social networks.
A spokesman for the Ministry of Defense said that “the Ukrainian side still refrains from establishing a date” for the first stage of the exchange of prisoners.
‘Dirty games’
The exchange was scheduled to be the largest in the war, overcoming the exchange of 1,000 for 1,000 last month that was in a first round of conversations in Istanbul.
After the Conversations of Istanbul, the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zensky, said it would take place this weekend, while Russia said he was ready for Saturday, Sunday or Monday.
In response to the accusations of Russia, the headquarters of Coordination of Ukraine for the treatment of war prisoners said that a date had not been agreed on the return of the bodies.
He also said that a list of names that Russia said it would be published did not coincide with the terms of the agreement.
“Unfortunately, instead of a constructive dialogue, we face manipulations again,” he said in a statement on social networks.
“We call on Russian side that stops playing dirty games and returning to constructive work to bring people back to both parties and clearly implement the agreement in the next few days,” he added.
The dispute occurred hours after Russia launched a massive air attack in Ukraine, strongly directed to the city of Jharkiv.
At least 10 people were killed in the flood of the night and attacks until Saturday, authorities said.
‘Powerful attack’
Kharkiv was under “the most powerful attack since the beginning of the war on a large scale,” said Mayor Ihor Terekhov.
Four people died and more than 20 injured when houses and apartments blocks hit during the night and guided bombs were thrown into the city on Saturday afternoon.
Three people were also killed in the First Line Donetsk region, which has the most intense struggle of war, and three more in the Kherson region, also partial occupied by Moscow’s forces.
Since Russia invaded in February 2022, tens of thousands have been killed, with millions forced to flee houses as the Aast Ukraine cities have been destroyed.
The Foreign Minister of Ukraine, Andrii Sybiha, asked the western allies of kyiv to punish Russia for refusing to stop his invasion.
“To end the murder and destruction of Russia, more pressure on Moscow is required, as well as more steps to strengthen Ukraine,” he said on social networks.
The Ukraine Air Force said Russia had fired 206 drones and nine missiles in the night flood.
Russia’s Ministry of Defense said he had launched a “group strike” against “industrial military” facilities in Ukraine.
Despite the conversations, the two parties have not advanced to stop the fight.
The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, has issued a series of radical demands in Ukraine as conditions prior to a truce.
They completely include the troops of four regions claimed by Russia, but that the army does not completely control, the end of Western military support and the prohibition that Ukraine joins NATO.
Zensky has dismissed the demands as old ultimátums, questioned the purpose of more conversations and asked that a summit be attended by him, Putin and Trump.
