
Russia has returned the bodies of 1,200 Ukrainian soldiers to Kyiv, marking one of the largest repatriations of remains since the war began more than three years ago.
The return on Friday was made following an agreement reached during peace talks in Istanbul last month.
However, Moscow has claimed this latest exchange was one-sided, claiming that Ukraine has failed to return the bodies of its fallen soldiers.
“Today, Russia handed over 1,200 bodies of deceased soldiers of the Ukrainian armed forces to Ukraine. Not a single one was handed over to us,” an unnamed source told Russia’s state-run TASS news agency.
Russian presidential aide Vladimir Medinsky also claimed that Ukraine suddenly postponed the handover of remains and prisoner exchanges on June 7, without offering a public explanation.