Zakharova noted the importance of organizing a prisoner exchange between Russia and Ukraine.

Today, it is important to organize a large-scale prisoner exchange between Russia and Ukraine, which the parties agreed on at the talks in Istanbul. This was announced on May 20 by the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, answering a question from Izvestia about the future prospects for resolving the conflict.

"Now it is important to implement what was agreed in Istanbul on May 16 — to organize the largest exchange of detainees in three years according to the 1,000-per-1,000 formula and to provide the parties with their written approaches to a possible future settlement process. With this in mind, appropriate steps will be taken further," she explained.

On May 16, the delegations of Russia and Ukraine at the talks in Istanbul agreed to present their vision of a cease-fire and to exchange prisoners of war in the "1000 by 1000" format. According to the head of the Russian delegation, Assistant to the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Medinsky, the Ukrainian side also offered to hold talks between the leaders of the states, and Russia took this request into account.

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