Russia and Ukraine exchanged 185 prisoners of war on Friday, the Russian defense ministry said, in one of the few areas of cooperation between the warring sides.
"On June 5, 185 Russian service members were returned from territory controlled by the Kiev regime. In exchange, 185 Ukrainian prisoners of war were handed over," the ministry was quoted as saying by the state RIA news agency.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has called for face-to-face negotiations in a public letter addressed directly to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The letter, the first public message Zelensky has written directly to Putin since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in 2022, was a sweeping critique of the Russian leader’s 26 years in power.
Zelensky acknowledged shifting U.S. priorities, saying it would be wrong to simply wait for the Trump administration to return its attention to ending the Ukraine war while it remains heavily focused on the Iran war.
“I am proposing a meeting,” Zelensky wrote on June 4.
The EU on June 5 backed Zelensky's call for direct talks.
"We welcome President Zelensky's call for direct negotiations and also the call for a ceasefire - and from our side, we will go once more through the facts, and this is that Ukraine wants peace, Europe wants peace," EU spokeswoman Anitta Hipper said.
French President Emmanuel Macron also welcomed the letter, saying it was time to resume dialogue with Moscow.
"I believe that it is now up to Ukraine and Russia to establish both a ceasefire and a peace plan. It is the Europeans who can help with this," Macron said at a summit of European Union and Balkan leaders in Montenegro.
Macron called the letter a "good initiative". Germany also welcomed Zelensky's call for direct negotiations with the Kremlin chief.
U.S. President Donald Trump said it “would be great” if Putin and Zelensky met. “They should get it done,” Trump said.
Asked what concessions he had urged Putin to make to end the war, Trump declined to provide details but said both sides would need to compromise.
“They’re going to both make compromises,” he said. “I suggested those compromises.”
Zelensky appeared to be trying to seize a pivotal moment in the war, as Ukraine has begun to regain some battlefield leverage largely through improved long-range strike capabilities that have complicated Russia’s advances.
At the same time, Moscow has intensified its deadly aerial campaign across Ukraine, seeking to exploit Kiev’s shortages and continued vulnerability to ballistic missile attacks.
Zelensky said the talks could be hosted by a neutral third country, ruling out both Moscow and Kiev as venues and suggested Switzerland, Türkiye or Arab states as possible hosts for negotiations.
He said Ukraine was prepared to implement a full ceasefire for the duration of negotiations and proposed an all-for-all prisoner exchange as a first step toward ending the conflict.
