Russian presidential aide Vladimir Medinsky has announced that Moscow handed over the bodies of 1,000 fallen soldiers to Ukraine while receiving the remains of 38 Russian troops.
The development was initially reported by State Duma member Shamsail Saraliev, who is part of the parliamentary coordination group on issues related to Russia’s special military operation.
Medinsky later confirmed the move as part of humanitarian agreements approved last year during direct Moscow-Kiev negotiations in Istanbul.
Ukraine’s Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War has confirmed that Moscow returned the bodies, without commenting on how many soldiers’ remains Kiev handed over to Russia.
Russia last returned the bodies of soldiers to Ukraine on December 19, when Moscow transferred the remains of 1,003 Ukrainian troops. At that time, Kiev handed over the remains of 26 Russian soldiers.
Throughout the conflict, Russia and Ukraine have routinely engaged in such exchanges, with Moscow returning a disproportionately large number of Ukrainian remains.
In early December, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov stated that Moscow had returned the remains of more than 11,000 soldiers to Kiev while receiving 201 bodies. The two sides have also conducted swaps involving prisoners of war.
The latest exchange follows trilateral Russia-US-Ukraine talks in Abu Dhabi last week, which reportedly focused on conflict settlement and territorial concessions by Ukraine.