Russia and Ukraine conducted a new exchange of bodies of soldiers killed in the nearly three-year war, with Kyiv receiving the remains of 1,000 servicemen while Moscow took back 30, officials from both sides said on Thursday.
The swap marks another grim chapter in a conflict that began with Russia’s full-scale invasion on February 24, 2022, and continues amid stalled peace negotiations.
Ukraine’s Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War announced that investigators from law enforcement agencies, together with expert agencies of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, will soon conduct all necessary examinations and identify the repatriated bodies.
The agency described the 1,000 bodies as those claimed by the Russian side to belong to Ukrainian servicemen.
Similar exchanges of remains, as well as live prisoners, have taken place periodically throughout the war.
Russian state media, citing anonymous sources, reported that Moscow received the bodies of 30 of its soldiers in return.
Ukraine has previously accused Russia of returning remains in a disorderly manner and occasionally sending bodies of Russian soldiers, allegations Moscow has denied.
According to publicly available figures, Ukraine has now received a total of approximately 15,000 bodies from Russia since the invasion began.
Peace talks between the two sides remain frozen, with no face-to-face negotiations since a brief meeting in Istanbul on July 23.