Russia Returns 1000 Corpses Of Soldiers
Russia has returned the bodies of 1000 Ukrainian soldiers killed in battle, the Ukrainian government announced on Thursday, marking one of the few remaining humanitarian exchanges between the two warring countries.
In a statement posted on social media, Ukraine’s Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War confirmed the operation.
“Repatriation measures took place today,” Ukraine’s Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War announced on social media.
“One thousand bodies, which according to the Russian side belong to Ukrainian servicemen, were returned to Ukraine,” the agency added.
Moscow also confirmed the exchange, noting that it had received the remains of 31 Russian soldiers from Kyiv in return.
Such exchanges, involving both prisoners of war and the remains of fallen soldiers, remain among the last points of limited cooperation between Russia and Ukraine since the full-scale invasion began in February 2022.
Ukraine’s coordination agency said law enforcement officials would begin the process of identifying the bodies soon, while also thanking the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) for assisting in the operation.
In recent months, Kyiv has received similar handovers — in July, August, and September — each involving the remains of around 1,000 soldiers, reflecting the brutal scale of fighting along the more than 1,000-kilometre frontline.
Tens of thousands of soldiers have been killed on both sides since Russia’s invasion began. However, both Kyiv and Moscow have largely avoided releasing official casualty figures.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told U.S. media in February that Ukraine had lost over 46,000 troops, with “tens of thousands more” still missing in action.
Meanwhile, independent counts by BBC Russia and the investigative outlet Mediazona suggest that more than 135,000 Russian soldiers have been confirmed killed using open-source data — though they warn the true toll is likely far higher.
