Russia and Ukraine exchanged 200 prisoners of war Wednesday as a result of Türkiye's mediation and diplomatic traffic conducted with the countries' leaders, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan announced.

Erdoğan told reporters in New York City that the prisoner exchange under Türkiye's mediation was an "important step" towards ending the war between the two countries.

He noted that efforts to establish peace between Russia and Ukraine continue.

The president also thanked his counterparts, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, adding: "I would also like to thank all my friends who contributed to this process."

Turkish Presidential Spokesperson Ibrahim Kalın hailed the exchange on Twitter, saying: "This exchange, which took place as a result of the intense diplomatic traffic of our President, is one of the most important results of the peace diplomacy pursued by our country. Türkiye always favors peace."

Previously, Erdoğan told both Putin and Zelenskyy that "there is no winner in a war that ends in the deaths of people."

The president said that Türkiye has followed a balanced policy between Russia and Ukraine since the war started in February and favors listening to both presidents at the negotiation table in Türkiye.

Zelenskyy said in his daily address that Russia had received 55 prisoners, including Viktor Medvedchuk, a former Ukrainian lawmaker and ally of Putin accused of high treason.

The swap is the biggest exchange between the warring sides since the start of Russia's invasion in February.

Ten prisoners of war from countries including the United States and Britain were earlier on Wednesday transferred to Saudi Arabia as part of the exchange between Moscow and Kyiv, Zelenskyy said.

"We have managed to liberate 215 people," the head of Zelenskyy's office, Andriy Yermak, announced on television.

Zelenskyy said five military commanders including leaders of the defense of the Azovstal steelworks in Mariupol were taken to Türkiye as part of an operation prepared well in advance and agreed with Erdoğan.

The released prisoners will remain in Türkiye "in total security and in comfortable conditions" until the end of the war, Zelenskyy added.

Meanwhile, Erdoğan left for Türkiye late Wednesday after attending the U.N. General Assembly in New York.

He arrived in New York on Saturday after attending a two-day summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) in Samarkand, Uzbekistan.

Erdoğan addressed the 77th U.N. General Assembly session on Sept. 20. The session will run through Sept. 26 under the theme "A watershed moment: transformative solutions to interlocking challenges."

In addition, he met with U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and held talks with heads of state and government on the sidelines of the U.N. meeting.

The Turkish president also received representatives of U.S.-based Turkish nongovernmental organizations and Jewish groups and attended an event organized by the Türkiye-U.S. Business Council.

Additionally, Erdoğan attended a reception hosted by U.S. President Joe Biden in honor of the heads of delegations.

'Illegitimate' annexation referendums

On the other side, Türkiye on Wednesday condemned Russia's "illegitimate" plans to hold annexation referendums in four Moscow-controlled regions of Ukraine.

"Such illegitimate fait accomplis will not be recognized by the international community," the Turkish Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

"On the contrary, it will complicate efforts for reviving the diplomatic process and lead to deepened instability," it added.

Türkiye never recognized the Kremlin's annexation of Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula which occurred in the first months of a festering conflict that broke out in 2014 and led to Russia's all-out invasion on Feb. 24.

Erdoğan has been using his open relations with both Moscow and Kyiv to try and set up direct truce talks.

But Russia's decision to hold the annexation votes and partially mobilize reservists signals the potential start of an even more violent chapter in the war.

The recent Russian decision on partial mobilization and the announcement of annexation referenda in Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia "demonstrate the seriousness of the situation," Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said similarly on Tuesday while co-chairing the 12th ministerial meeting of U.N. Groups of Friends of Mediation on the sidelines of 77th session of U.N. General Assembly in New York.

The top diplomat said there is a need for a more proactive approach to diplomacy and mediation.

"This is why we selected, ‘Avoiding Humanitarian Crises Through Mediation,' as the theme of our meeting today," he said in opening remarks. "That's what we try to do through our engagement with Ukraine and Russia."

'Political motivated sentencing'

The Foreign Ministry on Wednesday also expressed "concern" over the "politically motivated" sentencing of Crimean Tatar political figures.

The ministry expressed concern in a statement about the "politically motivation conviction" of Nariman Dzhelyal, deputy chairperson of the Crimean Tatar National Assembly, and "our other Crimean Tatar kinsmen" Asan Akhtemov and Aziz Akhtemov.

The ministry emphasized Türkiye's support for "the Crimean Tatars' right to live freely and safely in their homeland."

It noted that it expects "necessary steps to be taken as soon as possible for the freedom of all our compatriots imprisoned in Crimea, including the aforementioned ones."

Russian forces entered the Crimean Peninsula in February 2014, with President Putin formally dividing the region into two separate federal subjects of the Russian Federation the following month.

Crimea's ethnic Tatars have faced persecution since that time, a situation especially decried by Türkiye.

Türkiye, the European Union and the United States, as well as the U.N. General Assembly, view Crimea's annexation as illegal.