On Thursday, Russia gave back the bodies of 1,000 Ukrainian deceased soldiers to Ukraine, as a part of an agreement reached at peace talks last month, said by Moscow’s top negotiator.
Russian negotiator and Kremlin aide Vladimir Medinsky said on telegram, “Following the agreements made in Istanbul, today another 1,000 bodies of Ukrainian soldiers were handed over to Ukraine.”
He also mentioned that Ukraine had returned 19 Russian soldiers’ dead bodies.
Ukraine’s headquarters for the treatment of prisoners of war said in a statement, “Law enforcement investigators, together with experts from the interior ministry, will carry out all necessary examinations and identify the repatriated bodies,”
Photos and videos shared by news agencies showed teams of people in white hazmat suits transferring body bags between refrigerated semi-trailers.
An anonymous source said that Russia planned to return the bodies of 2,000 more Ukrainian soldiers in the near future.
The repatriation of fallen soldiers and the exchange of prisoners of war has been one of the few areas of cooperation between the warring sides since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022.
Moscow and Kyiv agreed last month during talks in Istanbul to exchange the bodies of 6,000 soldiers each. The sides also agreed to a large-scale prisoner swap but failed to reach a ceasefire deal.
Tens of thousands of soldiers have been killed on both sides since the war began, according to independent monitors and Western intelligence. Neither country publishes regular or independently verifiable casualty figures.