Russia and Ukraine Reach Deal on New POW Swap and Handover of Bodies

Members of Ukrainian (R), Russian (L) and Turkish (C) delegations attend the second meeting at the Ciragan Palace, in Istanbul, on June 2, 2025. (AFP)
Members of Ukrainian (R), Russian (L) and Turkish (C) delegations attend the second meeting at the Ciragan Palace, in Istanbul, on June 2, 2025. (AFP)
TT

Russia and Ukraine Reach Deal on New POW Swap and Handover of Bodies

Members of Ukrainian (R), Russian (L) and Turkish (C) delegations attend the second meeting at the Ciragan Palace, in Istanbul, on June 2, 2025. (AFP)
Members of Ukrainian (R), Russian (L) and Turkish (C) delegations attend the second meeting at the Ciragan Palace, in Istanbul, on June 2, 2025. (AFP)

Russia and Ukraine said they had agreed at peace talks on Monday to exchange more prisoners of war and return the bodies of 12,000 dead soldiers. 

The warring sides met for barely an hour in the Turkish city of Istanbul, for only the second such round of negotiations since March 2022. 

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan described it as a great meeting and said he hoped to bring together Russia's Vladimir Putin and Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelenskiy for a meeting in Türkiye with US President Donald Trump. 

But there was no breakthrough on a proposed ceasefire that Ukraine, its European allies and Washington have all urged Russia to accept. 

Moscow says it seeks a long-term settlement, not a pause in the war; Kyiv says Putin is not interested in peace. 

Kremlin aide Vladimir Medinsky said Russian negotiators had handed their Ukrainian counterparts a detailed memorandum outlining Moscow's terms for a full ceasefire. 

Medinsky, who heads the Russian team, said Moscow had also suggested a "specific ceasefire of two to three days in certain sections of the front" so that the bodies of dead soldiers could be collected. 

Each side said it would hand over the bodies of 6,000 dead soldiers to the other. 

In addition, they said they would conduct a further big swap of prisoners of war, after 1,000 captives on each side were traded following a first round of talks in Istanbul on May 15. 

Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov, who headed Kyiv's delegation, said the new exchange would focus on those severely injured in the war and on young people. 

Umerov also said that Moscow had handed a draft peace accord to Ukraine and that Kyiv, which has drawn up its own version, would review the Russian document. 

Ukraine has proposed holding more talks before the end of June, but believes that only a meeting between Zelenskiy and Putin can resolve the many issues of contention, Umerov said. 

Zelenskiy's chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, said Kyiv's delegation had requested the return of a list of children who it said had been deported to Russia. 

Moscow says such children were moved in order to protect them from fighting. Medinsky said there were 339 names on Ukraine's list but that the children had been "saved", not stolen. 

LOW EXPECTATIONS FOR ISTANBUL BREAKTHROUGH 

Ukraine had a day earlier launched one of its most ambitious attacks of the war, using drones to target Russian nuclear-capable long-range bomber planes in Siberia and elsewhere. 

Angry war bloggers urged Moscow to retaliate strongly. 

While both countries, for different reasons, are keen to keep Trump engaged in the peace process, expectations of a breakthrough on Monday had been low. 

Ukraine regards Russia's approach to date as an attempt to force it to capitulate - something Kyiv says it will never do - while Moscow, which advanced on the battlefield in May at its fastest rate in six months, says Kyiv should submit to peace on Russian terms or face losing more territory. 

Putin set out his opening terms for an immediate end to the war last June: Ukraine must drop its ambitions to join the Western NATO alliance and withdraw its troops from the entirety of the four Ukrainian regions claimed and largely controlled by Russia. 

According to a proposed roadmap drawn up by Ukraine, a copy of which was seen by Reuters, Kyiv wants no restrictions on its military strength after any peace deal, no international recognition of Russian sovereignty over parts of Ukraine taken by Moscow's forces, and reparations. 

Russia currently controls just under one fifth of Ukraine, or about 113,100 sq km, about the area of the US state of Ohio. 

Putin sent his army into Ukraine on February 24, 2022, after eight years of fighting in eastern Ukraine between Russian-backed separatists and Ukrainian forces. 

The United States, which under Trump's predecessor Joe Biden was Ukraine's main source of advanced weaponry in the war, says over 1.2 million people have been killed and injured in the conflict since 2022. 

Trump has called Putin "crazy" and berated Zelenskiy in public in the Oval Office, but the US president has also said he thinks peace is achievable and that if Putin delays, the US could impose tough sanctions on Russia. 



Israel Reportedly Took Iran's Araghchi, Qalibaf Off Hit List after Pakistan Request to US

FILED - 09 September 2025, Egypt, Cairo: Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi attends a joint press conference in Cairo. Photo: Stringer/dpa
FILED - 09 September 2025, Egypt, Cairo: Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi attends a joint press conference in Cairo. Photo: Stringer/dpa
TT

Israel Reportedly Took Iran's Araghchi, Qalibaf Off Hit List after Pakistan Request to US

FILED - 09 September 2025, Egypt, Cairo: Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi attends a joint press conference in Cairo. Photo: Stringer/dpa
FILED - 09 September 2025, Egypt, Cairo: Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi attends a joint press conference in Cairo. Photo: Stringer/dpa

Israel took Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and Parliamentary Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf off its hit list after Pakistan requested that Washington not target them, a Pakistani source with knowledge of the discussions told Reuters on Thursday.

"The Israelis had their coordinates and wanted to take them out, we told the US if they are also eliminated then there is no one else to talk to, hence the US asked the Israelis to back off," the source said.

Pakistan's ⁠military and foreign ⁠office did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The Wall Street Journal first reported that the two top Iranian officials had been temporarily removed from Israel's list of officials to eliminate as they explore possible peace talks.

The two officials have been removed from the list ⁠for up to four or five days, the Journal said, citing US officials, but did not mention any Pakistani role in it. Pakistan, Egypt and Türkiye are playing the role of mediator between Tehran and Washington to end the Iran war.

Islamabad has maintained direct contact with both Washington and Tehran at a time when such channels are frozen for most other countries. Islamabad has also been seen as a likely venue if peace talks are ⁠held.

Iran is ⁠reviewing a 15-point proposal from US President Donald Trump, sent through Pakistan, to end the war. The proposal calls for removing Iran's stocks of highly enriched uranium, halting enrichment, curbing its ballistic missile program and cutting off funding for regional allies, according to Israeli cabinet sources familiar with the plan.

Trump has said Iran is desperate to make a deal, while Araghchi said Tehran was reviewing the US proposal but had no intention of holding talks to wind down the conflict.


Venezuela's Maduro Back in US Court after Stunning Capture

(FILES) Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro looks on during a meeting at the National Assembly in Caracas on August 22, 2025. (Photo by Juan BARRETO / AFP)
(FILES) Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro looks on during a meeting at the National Assembly in Caracas on August 22, 2025. (Photo by Juan BARRETO / AFP)
TT

Venezuela's Maduro Back in US Court after Stunning Capture

(FILES) Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro looks on during a meeting at the National Assembly in Caracas on August 22, 2025. (Photo by Juan BARRETO / AFP)
(FILES) Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro looks on during a meeting at the National Assembly in Caracas on August 22, 2025. (Photo by Juan BARRETO / AFP)

Ousted Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro will appear Thursday in a New York court for the second time since his capture by US forces in an extraordinary nighttime raid.

Maduro, 63, and wife Cilia Flores have been held in a Brooklyn jail for almost three months after American commandos snatched the pair from their compound in Caracas in early January, said AFP.

The stunning operation deposed the strongman who had led Venezuela since 2013 and has since forced the oil-rich country to largely bend to the will of US President Donald Trump.

Maduro has declared himself a "prisoner of war" and pleaded not guilty to the four counts of "narco-terrorism" conspiracy, cocaine importation conspiracy, possession of machine guns and destructive devices, and conspiracy to possess machine guns and destructive devices.

Thursday's hearing at 11:00 am (1500 GMT) will likely see Maduro push for the dismissal of his case as lawyers tussle over who will pay the former leader's legal fees.

Venezuela's government is seeking to cover the costs, but because of Washington's sanctions, his lawyer Barry Pollack must obtain a US license that has not been issued.

Pollack argued in a court submission that the license requirement violated Maduro's constitutional right to legal representation and demanded the case be thrown out on procedural grounds.

- Deadly raid -

Detained in Brooklyn's Metropolitan Detention Center, a federal prison known for unsanitary conditions, Maduro is reportedly alone in a cell with no access to the internet or newspapers.

A source close to the Venezuelan government said the incarcerated Maduro reads the Bible and is referred to as "president" by some of his fellow detainees.

He is only allowed to communicate by phone with his family and lawyers for a maximum of 15 minutes per call, the source added.

"The lawyers told us he is strong. He said we must not be sad," said his son, Nicolas Maduro Guerra, adding his father told him: "We are fine, we are fighters."

Maduro and his wife were forcibly taken by US commandos in the early hours of January 3 in airstrikes on the Venezuelan capital backed by warplanes and a heavy naval deployment.

At least 83 people died and more than 112 people were injured in the assault, according to Venezuelan officials. No US service members were killed.

- US pressure -

At his first US court appearance in January, Maduro struck a defiant tone as he identified himself the president of Venezuela despite being captured.

The South American country is now led by Delcy Rodriguez, who had been Maduro's vice president since 2018.

Under US pressure, she is grappling with leading a country saddled with the world's largest proven oil reserves but an economy in shambles.

Rodriguez has since enacted a historic amnesty law to free political prisoners jailed under Maduro and reformed oil and mining regulations in line with US demands for access to her country's vast natural wealth.

This month, the State Department said it was restoring diplomatic ties with Venezuela in a sign of thawing relations.

Security is expected to be heightened around the New York courthouse for Thursday's hearing.

Presiding over the case is Alvin Hellerstein, a 92-year-old judge credited with overseeing several high-profile trials during his decades on the bench.


Bus Sinks in Bangladesh River, Many Killed

Rescue teams conduct search operations and look for victims, a day after a bus plunged into the Padma River while boarding a ferry in Rajbari district, 84 km from Dhaka, Bangladesh, 26 March 2026. EPA/STR
Rescue teams conduct search operations and look for victims, a day after a bus plunged into the Padma River while boarding a ferry in Rajbari district, 84 km from Dhaka, Bangladesh, 26 March 2026. EPA/STR
TT

Bus Sinks in Bangladesh River, Many Killed

Rescue teams conduct search operations and look for victims, a day after a bus plunged into the Padma River while boarding a ferry in Rajbari district, 84 km from Dhaka, Bangladesh, 26 March 2026. EPA/STR
Rescue teams conduct search operations and look for victims, a day after a bus plunged into the Padma River while boarding a ferry in Rajbari district, 84 km from Dhaka, Bangladesh, 26 March 2026. EPA/STR

A bus carrying about 50 people plunged into a major river in central Bangladesh as it was driving onto a ferry, leaving at least 18 people dead, authorities said Thursday.

The bus plunged into the Padma River on Wednesday afternoon in Rajbari district, about 84 kilometers (52 miles) from the capital, Dhaka, said fire official Dewan Sohel Rana.

The bus was traveling to the capital from the southwestern district of Kushtia as people return to work after the Islamic festival of Eid al-Fitr, The Associated Press said.

Rana said many of the passengers swam to safety after the accident but others got trapped.

A rescue vessel joined the operation late Wednesday and lifted the bus, he said, and rescuers worked overnight to recover bodies, finding 18 by Thursday morning.

Strong currents and rains disrupted the rescue operations overnight, he said.

It was not clear if there was still anyone missing.

Ten women and two children were among the dead, according to the Fire Service and Civil Defense Department.