Russia, Ukraine accuse each other of delaying POW swap

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00:00It was a prisoner exchange that was said to be the largest of the war.

00:03But that fell apart on Saturday as Russia and Ukraine accused each other of thwarting the plan.

00:09Moscow first accused Kiev of not turning up to collect the dead bodies of soldiers

00:13and postponing the date indefinitely.

00:16For the exchange of prisoners of war, we handed over a list of 640 names to the Ukrainian side.

00:23However, they have so far refrained from setting a date for the return of these individuals

00:28and handing over to the Russian side the corresponding number of Russian military prisoners of war.

00:35But Kiev says Moscow is playing dirty games by not sticking to the agreed perimeters for the exchange.

00:40Another spanner in the works for peace talks between the two sides,

00:43which has so far produced no significant breakthroughs.

00:47The most recent direct talks took place in Istanbul on Monday,

00:50with Kiev and Moscow agreeing to release more than 1,000 prisoners of war on each side,

00:55including wounded soldiers and those under the age of 25.

00:58as well as returning the bodies of 12,000 soldiers from both camps.

01:02It would have followed last month's 1,000 for 1,000 swap that took place over three days.

01:07That saw both Ukrainian soldiers as well as civilians returning home.

01:12Saturday's bad comes just hours after Russia launched a massive aerial attack across Ukraine,

01:16heavily targeting the city of Kharkiv.

01:18K

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