Ukraine Refuses to Accept Dead Bodies or Conduct Prisoner Swap

Russia has accused Ukraine of refusing to proceed with a planned exchange of prisoners of war and of declining to accept the bodies of 6,000 deceased Ukrainian soldiers, despite both measures being agreed to during talks held in Istanbul on June 2nd.

According to Vladimir Medinsky, the head of Russia’s negotiation team, Moscow had provided the names of 640 Ukrainian prisoners to be exchanged on Saturday. However, he claimed that the Ukrainian side unexpectedly postponed the exchange indefinitely and failed to show up at the designated location.

As part of the June 2nd agreement, both Russia and Ukraine committed to a prisoner swap involving 1,000 individuals from each side. The deal included provisions prioritizing prisoners under the age of 25 and those severely wounded.

In addition to the breakdown of the prisoner exchange, Medinsky said Ukraine also rejected the return of the remains of Ukrainian soldiers. Russia had pledged during the Istanbul meeting to return the bodies of 6,000 fallen Ukrainian troops without preconditions. According to Medinsky, the first batch of 1,212 bodies, transported in refrigerated trucks, was delivered to the border, but Ukrainian authorities refused to receive them.

Following the Istanbul meeting, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky appeared to dismiss Russia’s proposal. In a video posted to social media, he referred to the Russian negotiators as “idiots.”

Speculation has arisen that Ukraine may be reluctant to accept the bodies out of concern that doing so would undermine its official narrative regarding the scale of its casualties. Acknowledging 6,000 additional fatalities could raise doubts among Western backers about the true cost of the war. In a February interview, Zelensky claimed that Ukraine had suffered only 46,000 combat deaths—a figure that contrasts sharply with independent and official U.S. estimates. Former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley stated in November 2022 that Ukraine had already sustained over 100,000 fatalities.

Despite both sides having exchanged draft memorandums during the Istanbul talks, future contact between Russian and Ukrainian negotiators appears likely to remain limited to technical matters, such as prisoner and body exchanges—if the process continues at all.