Moscow ready to repatriate more remains Ukrainian troops
Russia is ready to hand over more remains of fallen troops to Ukraine, in addition to making good on its earlier promise to send some 6,000 bodies to Kiev's military, the Defense Ministry in Moscow has said.
During talks in Istanbul in early June, Russia unilaterally decided to repatriate the bodies of 6,060 slain Ukrainian troops as a humanitarian gesture. On Monday, the Russian Defense Ministry announced that the final batch of remains had been handed over to Kiev, and that Moscow had 'fulfilled the agreements' reached during the talks in Türkiye.
However, the ministry made it clear that it presently holds some 2,000 more remains. 'At this stage, we are ready to hand over another 2,239 bodies of the deceased servicemen of the Ukrainian Armed Forces to the Ukrainian side,' a statement released on Monday claimed.
Moscow transferred 1,248 bodies in an exchange on Monday during which it received from Ukraine the remains of 51 slain Russian servicemen, it said.
Russia has this received some 76 bodies from Ukraine, having repatriated some 6,000 to Kiev.
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