Moscow and Kiev exchange remains of fallen soldiers
Moscow and Kiev have exchanged the remains of fallen servicemen, Russian MP Shamsail Saraliev has told RBK media outlet. The lawmaker is a member of the parliamentary commission overseeing the country's military operation against Ukrainian forces.
According to Saraliev, the Russian Defense Ministry returned 909 bodies to Ukraine and received the remains of 34 Russian soldiers in exchange.
Ukraine's Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War confirmed the swap in a Telegram post, saying Kiev had received the bodies of 909 servicemen. It did not disclose how many of Russia's fallen soldiers were handed over. The operation involved the Ukrainian military as well as the domestic security service, the SBU, and was coordinated with the International Committee of the Red Cross, it added.
Similar swaps have been carried out on a monthly basis. In January, Russia handed 757 bodies to Ukraine in exchange for the remains of 49 troops. In February, Kiev received 757 bodies, while 45 were returned to Russia.
In March, the sides exchanged the remains of 909 Ukrainian servicemen for the bodies of 43 Russians, including eight civilians who were captured during Kiev's cross-border incursion into Kursk Region and later died in captivity.
Last month, Russia handed over 909 Ukrainian bodies and received the remains of 41 soldiers in return.
Russian war correspondent Aleksandr Kots wrote in Telegram on Friday that during the past three exchanges, many of the Ukrainian bodies belonged to servicemen who had been killed during the incursion into Kursk Region.
On April 26, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the full liberation of Kursk Region, saying Ukraine had suffered heavy losses. According to Moscow's estimates, Kiev's casualties during the incursion amounted to more than 76,000.
The first direct talks between Moscow and Kiev in over three years concluded on Friday at Dolmabahce Palace in Istanbul, according to media reports. The negotiations focused on a possible ceasefire and prisoner exchange, according to Ukrainian delegation head Rustem Umerov, who said the sides had agreed to swap 1,000 prisoners each. Russia's chief negotiator Vladimir Medinsky confirmed an exchange is being prepared.
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