Russia’s Defense Ministry said Friday that it had carried out another prisoner exchange with Ukraine under agreements reached during direct peace talks in Istanbul last month. “On July 4, in accordance with the Russian-Ukrainian agreements in Istanbul on June 2,

Eleven jailed Russian dissidents have written to world leaders appealing for a mass release of Russian political prisoners and Ukrainian civilians held by Russia - some 10,000 people in total, they say - as part of any peace deal between Moscow and Kyiv.