In a major development amid ongoing hostilities, Ukraine has recovered the bodies of 1,212 fallen soldiers from Russia as part of a long-negotiated prisoner exchange, Kyiv announced this week. The somber transfer marks one of the largest repatriations since the war began and underscores the devastating human toll of the conflict.
In return, Russia received 27 bodies of its own soldiers, according to Vladimir Medinsky, Moscow’s chief negotiator in the talks. The agreement follows a recent round of peace negotiations in Turkey — the only concrete result of which was the commitment from both sides to repatriate up to 6,000 deceased troops each, along with the exchange of severely wounded prisoners of war and individuals under the age of 25.
Medinsky confirmed that Russia will begin exchanging wounded prisoners starting Thursday, furthering the fragile momentum built during the Turkey talks.
Ukraine’s coordination center for the treatment of prisoners of war, which reported the recovery on Telegram, stated that the fallen soldiers came from various embattled regions, including Donetsk, Kharkiv, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia. The center added that efforts to identify all the deceased are underway.
This latest exchange comes amid accusations and tensions between the two sides. Russia previously claimed Ukraine had failed to retrieve the bodies, saying they had remained in refrigerated trucks since Saturday. Moscow further alleged that Kyiv had abruptly postponed the scheduled swaps — a charge Ukraine strongly denied, accusing Russia of manipulation and “dirty tricks.”
Despite the acrimony, the first round of prisoner and body exchanges took place on Monday. Emotional scenes unfolded near the border with Belarus, where families of missing Ukrainian soldiers gathered in hopes of learning the fate of their loved ones. While some soldiers were exchanged that day, both Kyiv and Moscow declined to disclose the exact number involved.
This exchange adds to a growing list of over 70 documented repatriations since the beginning of the conflict, reflecting both the scale of the war and the continuing diplomatic struggles over the treatment of the dead and wounded.