Russia and Ukraine have carried out another prisoner-of-war exchange as part of a deal brokered in Istanbul earlier this month, the warring sides said on Friday. Russia's Defence Ministry said the sixth exchange took place once again at the Ukrainian-Belarusian border.

The Ukrainian POWs exchanged on Thursday were sick or injured, according to Kyiv's coordinating council for POWs. The Russian POWs would also be sent for treatment and rehabilitation, Moscow's defence ministry said.

Russia and Ukraine exchanged captured soldiers on Friday in the latest prisoner swap agreed during peace talks in Istanbul, offering a rare sign of cooperation despite stalled negotiations and continued fighting.

Russia and Ukraine carried out another prisoner swap on Friday, said the Russian defence ministry. In accordance with the Russian-Ukrainian agreements on June 2 in Istanbul, a group of Russian military personnel was returned from the territory controlled by Ukraine on June 20,

Ukraine has brought home another group of soldiers released from Russian captivity, President Volodymyr Zelensky announced on June 19.

Since then, Russia and Ukraine have swapped dozens of prisoners of war, focusing on under-25s and the severely wounded and sick. There are hopes they could build into some of the biggest exchanges in the war that was triggered by Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

Russians claim that there are almost no Russian prisoners of war left in Ukraine. However, this information does not correspond to reality, says Andrii Yusov, representative of the Defense Intelligence of Ukraine.