Ukraine has recovered the bodies of 1,212 soldiers killed in the ongoing war with Russia, according to Kyiv’s coordination body for prisoner exchanges. The repatriation comes amid renewed efforts by both sides to exchange the remains of war dead, despite tensions over the process.
“As a result of the repatriation activities, the bodies of 1,212 fallen defenders have been returned to Ukraine,” the coordination committee announced Wednesday via Telegram. Photos shared showed International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) personnel near several refrigerated trucks at an undisclosed location, some bearing the emblem of “On the Shield,” a Ukrainian organization dedicated to recovering military dead.
Meanwhile, Kremlin aide Vladimir Medinsky confirmed that Ukraine had returned 27 bodies of Russian soldiers. He claimed that refrigerated trucks carrying Russian corpses waited at the border for five days before Ukraine accepted them, after initially postponing the handover.
Kyiv disputed this version of events, stating that while a repatriation deal had been reached last week, the date for implementation had not been finalized. Ukrainian officials accused Moscow of taking unilateral steps without coordination.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said earlier this month that Russia had offered to return as many as 6,000 bodies, but only around 15% had been identified so far. “We already had a moment once when they transferred bodies to us and were also transferring bodies of Russian dead soldiers,” he said during a briefing.
The retrieved Ukrainian remains are now being transferred to forensic experts from the Interior Ministry, law enforcement, and the Health Ministry for identification and further investigation.
This large-scale exchange of war dead comes alongside renewed prisoner swaps between the two countries. On Monday and Tuesday, Ukraine and Russia exchanged dozens of prisoners under the age of 25, as well as severely wounded and ill detainees. Further exchanges are scheduled for Thursday, Medinsky said.
Meanwhile, fierce fighting continues. Russia claimed advances in Ukraine’s Dnipropetrovsk region, while Kyiv reported that Moscow had launched its largest drone attack of the war.
The repatriation and prisoner swaps mark a rare moment of cooperation in a war that has entered its third year, following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Written By Rodney Mbua
