Kyiv has confirmed it received 1,000 bodies from Russia, which Moscow said belonged to Ukrainian soldiers killed while fighting in the ongoing conflict.
The exchange of remains, alongside prisoner swaps, remains one of the few areas of cooperation between Kyiv and Moscow, despite the war that began with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
“Today, repatriation measures took place, under which 1,000 bodies of the deceased, which the Russian side claims belong to Ukrainian defenders, were returned to Ukraine,” Kyiv’s Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War stated on social media.
Kremlin aide Vladimir Medinsky confirmed the exchange, writing on Telegram that Russia had received the remains of 38 Russian soldiers in return.
He said the swap was made possible under agreements reached between Ukrainian and Russian delegations in Istanbul last year.
Tens of thousands of soldiers have died on both sides since the start of the war, though neither Ukraine nor Russia regularly publishes official casualty figures.
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