Russia-Ukraine POWs exchange, official start for Ukraine's EU accession talks - Tuesday brief

RBC-Ukraine collage

Ukraine and Russia conducted another exchange of prisoners of war, as a result of which 90 defenders returned home. Meanwhile, Ukraine officially started negotiations on accession to the EU.

Read more about what happened on Tuesday, June 25.

Defenders of Mariupol and others: Ukraine returns 90 soldiers from Russian captivity

Ukraine has conducted another exchange of prisoners of war with Russia. 90 defenders have returned home.

According to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, those returned from captivity include National Guard soldiers, Navy personnel, territorial defense fighters, and border guards. They defended Mariupol and the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant and fought in the Kherson, Donetsk, Kharkiv, Zaporizhzhia, and Luhansk regions.

Ukraine officially starts negotiations on accession to EU

On June 25, negotiations on Ukraine's accession to the European Union officially started at the First Intergovernmental Conference in Luxembourg.

For more details, read the report on RBC-Ukraine.

First batch of ammunition from Czech initiative arrives in Ukraine

The first batch of ammunition purchased as part of the Czech initiative has arrived in Ukraine, according to Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala.

"The first shipment of ammunition from our initiative arrived in Ukraine some time ago. We are doing what it takes," he wrote.

International Criminal Court issues arrest warrants for Shoigu and Gerasimov

The Pre-Trial Chamber of the International Criminal Court has issued arrest warrants for the former Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and the Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation Valery Gerasimov.

The warrants are related to the war in Ukraine for alleged international crimes committed between October 10, 2022, and March 9, 2023.