Russia continues to accuse Ukraine of delaying planned exchange of dead fighters
Fire and smoke rise from the site where a Russian missile struck a residential area in Kharkiv, Ukraine, Saturday, June 7, 2025, (AP Photo/Anatolii Lysianskyi)
Russian officials said Sunday that Moscow is still awaiting official confirmation from Kyiv that a planned exchange of 6,000 bodies of soldiers killed in action will take place, reiterating allegations that Ukraine had postponed the swap.
Russian state media quoted Lt. Gen. Alexander Zorin, a representative of the Russian negotiating group, as saying that Russia delivered the first batch of 1,212 bodies of Ukrainian Armed Forces soldiers to the exchange site at the border and is waiting for confirmation from the Ukrainian side, but that there are 'signals' that the process of transferring the bodies will be postponed until next week.
Russia and Ukraine each accused the other on Saturday of endangering plans to swap 6,000 bodies of soldiers killed in action, which was agreed upon during direct talks in Istanbul on Monday that otherwise made no progress toward ending the war.
Vladimir Medinsky, a Putin aide who led the Russian delegation, said that Kyiv called a last-minute halt to an imminent swap. In a Telegram post on Saturday, Medinsky said that refrigerated trucks carrying more than 1,200 bodies of Ukrainian troops from Russia had already reached the agreed exchange site at the border when the news came.
In response, Ukraine said Russia was playing 'dirty games' and manipulating facts.
According to the main Ukrainian authority dealing with such swaps, no date had been set for repatriating the bodies. In a statement on Saturday, the agency also accused Russia of submitting lists of prisoners of war for repatriation that didn't correspond to agreements reached on Monday.
It wasn't immediately possible to reconcile the conflicting claims.
In other developments, one person was killed and another seriously wounded in Russian aerial strikes on the eastern Ukrainian Kharkiv region. These strikes came after Russian attacks targeted the regional capital, also called Kharkiv, on Saturday. Regional police in Kharkiv said on Sunday that the death toll from Saturday's attacks had increased to six people. More than two dozen others were wounded.
Russia fired a total of 49 exploding drones and decoys and three missiles overnight, Ukraine's air force said Sunday. Forty drones were shot down or electronically jammed.
Meanwhile, Russia's defense ministry said that its forces shot down 61 Ukrainian drones overnight, including near the capital.
Two people were wounded when a Ukrainian drone attack sparked a fire at a chemical plant in the Tula region.
The Associated Press
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Global News
an hour ago
- Global News
Russia awaits Ukraine's confirmation on planned exchange of dead soldiers: officials
Russian officials said Sunday that Moscow is still awaiting official confirmation from Ukraine that a planned exchange of 6,000 bodies of soldiers killed in action will take place, reiterating allegations that Kyiv had postponed the swap. On the front line in the war, Russia said that it had pushed into Ukraine's Dnipropetrovsk region. Russian state media quoted Lt. Gen. Alexander Zorin, a representative of the Russian negotiating group, as saying that Russia delivered the first batch of 1,212 bodies of Ukrainian soldiers to the exchange site at the border and is waiting for confirmation from Ukraine, but that there were 'signals' that the process of transferring the bodies would be postponed until next week. Citing Zorin on her Telegram channel, Russian foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova asked whether it was Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's 'personal decision not to take the bodies of the Ukrainians' or whether 'someone from NATO prohibited it.' Story continues below advertisement Ukrainian authorities said plans agreed upon during direct talks in Istanbul on Monday were proceeding accordingly, despite what Ukraine's intelligence chief, Kyrylo Budanov, called Russian attempts to 'unilaterally dictate the parameters of the exchange process.' 'We are carefully adhering to the agreements reached in Istanbul. Who, when and how to exchange should not be someone's sole decision. Careful preparation is ongoing. Pressure and manipulation are unacceptable here,' he said in a statement on Telegram on Sunday. 'The start of repatriation activities based on the results of the negotiations in Istanbul is scheduled for next week, as authorized persons were informed about on Tuesday,' the statement said. 'Everything is moving according to plan, despite the enemy's dirty information game.' Russia and Ukraine each accused the other on Saturday of endangering plans to swap 6,000 bodies of soldiers killed in action, which was agreed upon during the talks in Istanbul, which otherwise made no progress toward ending the war. Get daily National news Get the day's top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day. Sign up for daily National newsletter Sign Up By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy Vladimir Medinsky, an aide to Russian President Vladimir Putin, led the Russian delegation. Medinsky said that Kyiv called a last-minute halt to an imminent swap. In a Telegram post on Saturday, he said that refrigerated trucks carrying more than 1,200 bodies of Ukrainian troops from Russia had already reached the agreed exchange site at the border when the news came. According to the main Ukrainian authority dealing with such swaps, no date had been set for repatriating the bodies. In a statement on Saturday, the agency also accused Russia of submitting lists of prisoners of war for repatriation that didn't correspond to agreements reached on Monday. Story continues below advertisement It wasn't immediately possible to reconcile the conflicting claims. Russia says it is heading into Dnipropetrovsk region In other developments, Russia's defence ministry said Sunday that its forces had reached the western edge of the Donetsk region, one of the four provinces Russia illegally annexed in 2022, and that troops were 'developing the offensive' in the neighbouring Dnipropetrovsk region. This would be the first time Russian troops had pushed into the region in the more than three-year-old war. Ukraine didn't immediately respond to the claim, and The Associated Press couldn't immediately verify it. Russia's advance would mark a significant setback for Ukraine's already stretched forces as peace talks remain stalled and Russian troops have made incremental gains elsewhere. Russia and Ukraine exchange aerial attacks One person was killed and another seriously wounded in Russian aerial strikes on the eastern Ukrainian Kharkiv region. These strikes came after Russian attacks targeted the regional capital, also called Kharkiv, on Saturday. Regional police in Kharkiv said on Sunday that the death toll from Saturday's attacks had increased to six people. More than two dozen others were wounded. Story continues below advertisement Russia fired a total of 49 exploding drones and decoys and three missiles overnight, Ukraine's air force said Sunday. Forty drones were shot down or electronically jammed. Russia's defence ministry said that its forces shot down 61 Ukrainian drones overnight, including near the capital. Five people were wounded Sunday in a Ukrainian drone attack on a parking lot in Russia's Belgorod region, according to regional Gov. Vyacheslav Gladkov. Two people were wounded when a Ukrainian drone attack sparked a fire at a chemical plant in the Tula region, local authorities said. Russian authorities said early Sunday that Vnukovo and Domodedovo airports, two international airports serving Moscow, temporarily suspended flights because of a Ukrainian drone attack. Later in the day, Domodedovo halted flights temporarily for a second time, along with Zhukovsky airport. Story continues below advertisement
CTV News
2 hours ago
- CTV News
U.S. envoy closely eyes Canada defence spending; says NATO about collective defence
U.S. Ambassador to Canada Pete Hoekstra poses for a portrait at the U.S. Embassy, in Ottawa, Friday, June 6, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick OTTAWA — The American ambassador to Canada is closely watching as Ottawa shapes its defence budget, but says the U.S. will not dictate what the Canadian government must spend. 'We're not expecting anything; that's not our job to make those expectations,' Ambassador Pete Hoekstra said in an interview with The Canadian Press this past Friday, a day after NATO defence ministers endorsed new spending targets. Hoekstra also said the point of the NATO military alliance is to defend each other when under attack. He noted Americans haven't forgotten the 'investment and the sacrifice' Canadian troops made in Afghanistan when the U.S. invoked the NATO treaty's article on collective defence. 'They were fulfilling the commitment that they made to NATO — that when one of us is attacked we are all attacked, and we will defend each other,' Hoekstra said of Canadian soldiers. Hoekstra was not directly commenting on U.S. President Donald Trump's statement in March that Washington would not necessarily come to the aid of countries that don't pay their fair share on defence and that Canada has been freeloading on American defence of the continent. He did acknowledge Canada's defence spending has been an 'irritant' in the relationship with the U.S. This past week, defence ministers from NATO countries met in Brussels to discuss raising the member spending target on defence to as much as five per cent of GDP. Canada has never met NATO's existing spending target of two per cent since it was established in 2006. Trump and Prime Minister Mark Carney are engaged in what both sides have characterized as 'intensive' discussions toward the new economic and security deal the two leaders agreed to work on once the Canadian election concluded in April. NATO figures suggest Canada's defence spending rose from about one per cent in 2014 to 1.33 per cent in 2023. The NATO secretary-general's annual report, released in April, said Canada's defence spending would hit 1.45 per cent for 2024. In terms of absolute dollars, a Canadian Global Affairs Institute analysis last year said Canada ranks as the seventh largest spender in NATO, and the 14th largest in the world. Carney promised during the recent election campaign to move up Canada's deadline for meeting the 2 per cent threshold from 2032 to 2030 or sooner but has not yet shown a plan for how to do that. It will require Canada to add billions of new dollars annually. The prime minister is set to join other heads of government from NATO countries for an annual summit starting June 24 in the Netherlands. They are expected to approve a new defence investment plan that defence ministers hammered out this week, which would have member nations invest 3.5 per cent of GDP on core defence spending, and 1.5 per cent on defence and security-related investment such as infrastructure and resilience. That proposal is coming amid waning American commitments and a revanchist Russia. In recent years, both Democrats and Republicans have urged Canada to boost its Arctic defence, and the previous Biden administration praised much of what Ottawa outlined in an Arctic foreign policy last year. Trump has suggested defence of the Arctic is part of his 'Golden Dome' plan for a continental missile-defence shield. On May 27, the president said he told Ottawa it would cost US$61 billion to be part of the project. Hoekstra said he hasn't seen a breakdown of the costs, but said the 'really awesome technology' is likely estimated at 'proportionally what we think the Canadian share should be.' Defence Minister David McGuinty said Canada was reviewing its defence spending from 'top to bottom' and would have more to say about its plans soon, though the government isn't planning to table a budget until the fall. Hoekstra framed NATO as part of the wide partnership the U.S. has with Canada in security, which also includes secure energy flows and stopping illicit drugs. 'We need to do the things that will keep our citizens safe,' Hoekstra said. 'There are a lot of things that Americans and Canadians have in common, and we're looking forward to great days.' Hoekstra said Trump is trying to take the U.S. off an unsustainable trajectory, which he framed as millions of people crossing the U.S. border undocumented, spending way beyond government revenue and large trade deficits. 'The president is transforming that, because we need to,' he said. Trump's discussions with Carney will likely include the sweeping reform of border security that the Liberals tabled in Parliament last week. Hoekstra had yet to go through the legislation as of Friday. The ambassador said he's focused on win-win policies for both countries and not the prospect of Canada becoming an American state, despite Trump raising the notion as a way for Canadians to save on the cost of joining his Golden Dome project. Former Canadian diplomat Colin Robertson has said Hoekstra is limited in how much he can diverge from Trump's comments. But he said the ambassador has great access to the president, and his public messaging likely reveals how he has been advising Trump. This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 8, 2025. Dylan Robertson, The Canadian Press
Winnipeg Free Press
3 hours ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
Russia awaits Ukraine's confirmation on a planned exchange of dead fighters, officials say
Russian officials said Sunday that Moscow is still awaiting official confirmation from Ukraine that a planned exchange of 6,000 bodies of soldiers killed in action will take place, reiterating allegations that Kyiv had postponed the swap. On the front line in the war, Russia said that it had pushed into Ukraine's Dnipropetrovsk region. Russian state media quoted Lt. Gen. Alexander Zorin, a representative of the Russian negotiating group, as saying that Russia delivered the first batch of 1,212 bodies of Ukrainian soldiers to the exchange site at the border and is waiting for confirmation from Ukraine, but that there were 'signals' that the process of transferring the bodies would be postponed until next week. Citing Zorin on her Telegram channel, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova asked whether it was Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's 'personal decision not to take the bodies of the Ukrainians' or whether 'someone from NATO prohibited it.' Ukrainian authorities said plans agreed upon during direct talks in Istanbul on Monday were proceeding accordingly, despite what Ukraine's intelligence chief, Kyrylo Budanov, called Russian attempts to 'unilaterally dictate the parameters of the exchange process.' 'We are carefully adhering to the agreements reached in Istanbul. Who, when and how to exchange should not be someone's sole decision. Careful preparation is ongoing. Pressure and manipulation are unacceptable here,' he said in a statement on Telegram on Sunday. 'The start of repatriation activities based on the results of the negotiations in Istanbul is scheduled for next week, as authorized persons were informed about on Tuesday,' the statement said. 'Everything is moving according to plan, despite the enemy's dirty information game.' Russia and Ukraine each accused the other on Saturday of endangering plans to swap 6,000 bodies of soldiers killed in action, which was agreed upon during the talks in Istanbul, which otherwise made no progress toward ending the war. Vladimir Medinsky, an aide to Russian President Vladimir Putin, led the Russian delegation. Medinsky said that Kyiv called a last-minute halt to an imminent swap. In a Telegram post on Saturday, he said that refrigerated trucks carrying more than 1,200 bodies of Ukrainian troops from Russia had already reached the agreed exchange site at the border when the news came. According to the main Ukrainian authority dealing with such swaps, no date had been set for repatriating the bodies. In a statement on Saturday, the agency also accused Russia of submitting lists of prisoners of war for repatriation that didn't correspond to agreements reached on Monday. It wasn't immediately possible to reconcile the conflicting claims. Russia says it is heading into Dnipropetrovsk region In other developments, Russia's Defense Ministry said Sunday that its forces had reached the western edge of the Donetsk region, one of the four provinces Russia illegally annexed in 2022, and that troops were 'developing the offensive' in the neighboring Dnipropetrovsk region. This would be the first time Russian troops had pushed into the region in the more than three-year-old war. Ukraine didn't immediately respond to the claim, and The Associated Press couldn't immediately verify it. Russia's advance would mark a significant setback for Ukraine's already stretched forces as peace talks remain stalled and Russian troops have made incremental gains elsewhere. Russia and Ukraine exchange aerial attacks One person was killed and another seriously wounded in Russian aerial strikes on the eastern Ukrainian Kharkiv region. These strikes came after Russian attacks targeted the regional capital, also called Kharkiv, on Saturday. Regional police in Kharkiv said on Sunday that the death toll from Saturday's attacks had increased to six people. More than two dozen others were wounded. Russia fired a total of 49 exploding drones and decoys and three missiles overnight, Ukraine's air force said Sunday. Forty drones were shot down or electronically jammed. Winnipeg Jets Game Days On Winnipeg Jets game days, hockey writers Mike McIntyre and Ken Wiebe send news, notes and quotes from the morning skate, as well as injury updates and lineup decisions. Arrives a few hours prior to puck drop. Russia's defense ministry said that its forces shot down 61 Ukrainian drones overnight, including near the capital. Five people were wounded Sunday in a Ukrainian drone attack on a parking lot in Russia's Belgorod region, according to regional Gov. Vyacheslav Gladkov. Two people were wounded when a Ukrainian drone attack sparked a fire at a chemical plant in the Tula region, local authorities said. Russian authorities said early Sunday that Vnukovo and Domodedovo airports, two international airports serving Moscow, temporarily suspended flights because of a Ukrainian drone attack. Later in the day, Domodedovo halted flights temporarily for a second time, along with Zhukovsky airport. ___ Follow AP's coverage of the war in Ukraine at
