Russia and Ukraine on Tuesday exchanged more prisoners of war as part of a large-scale swap agreed by both countries at peace talks in Istanbul. Neither side said how many soldiers were freed in the second round of the exchange.

RussiaandUkraineexchanged more prisoners of war on Tuesday, both countries said, without giving details of the numbers involved.

The exchange was agreed between the two sides at talks inIstanbullast week, and an initial swap of prisoners under the age of 25was conducted on Monday.

Ukrainian PresidentVolodymyr Zelenskysaid Tuesday's exchange saw "the return of our injured and severely wounded warriors from Russian captivity".

Russia's defence ministry said: "In accordance with the Russian-Ukrainian agreements reached on June 2 in Istanbul, the second group of Russian servicemen was returned."

Zelensky said further exchanges would follow.

"The exchanges are to continue. We are doing everything we can to find and return every single person who is in captivity."

The defence ministry in Moscow said the Russians freed in the latest handover were currently inBelarus, which borders both the warring countries, and would be returned to Russia for medical treatment and rehabilitation.

Read moreUkraine and Russia swap first prisoners in large-scale exchange

Earlier, theKremlinsaid it had been ready for several days to start handing over the bodies of Ukrainian soldiers killed in the war, but thatKyivwas still discussing the details.

The planned transfer of thousands of war dead was the other tangible result of the Istanbul talks, which resumed last month after a gap of more than three years but have made no progress towards a ceasefire.

Russia has said it is ready to hand over the bodies of more than 6,000 Ukrainian soldiers and receive any bodies of Russian soldiers which Kyiv is able to return.

But Kremlin aide Vladimir Medinsky said on Saturday that the Russian side had shown up at the agreed exchange point with the bodies of 1,212 Ukrainian dead soldiers only to find nobody from Ukraine to take them.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has accused Moscow of "trying to play some kind of dirty political and information game" around the issue of the exchanges.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Tuesday: "There is no final understanding. Contact is being made, numbers are being compared. As soon as there is a final understanding, then we hope this exchange will take place."

Russian state media has broadcast images of long white refrigerated trucks, containing bodies sealed in individual white bags, parked up near the border.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP and Reuters)

Originally published on France24