Kyiv says 1,245 bodies returned to Ukraine from Russia
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Ukrainian special team members attending the repatriation of bodies of Ukrainian soldiers on June 13.
PHOTO: AFP
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KYIV - Russia has returned 1,245 bodies to Ukraine, Kyiv said on June 16, in the final stage of a deal to repatriate more than 6,000 dead Ukrainian soldiers agreed at peace talks in June.
Russia and Ukraine reached a deal on a large-scale exchange of prisoners
“Another 1,245 bodies returned to Ukraine – repatriation part of Istanbul agreements has been completed,” the government agency coordinating the repatriation said.
Ukrainian Defence Minister Rustem Umerov said on Facebook that Kyiv has received more than 6,000 bodies in total over the past week.
The Russian Defence Ministry gave a slightly different figure of 1,248 for the number of bodies returned in the final stage of the accord – three more than Kyiv said it had received.
Ukrainian Interior Minister Igor Klymenko on June 16 accused Russia of “deliberately complicating the identification process”.
“Bodies are returned in an extremely mutilated state, parts of (the same) bodies are in different bags,” Mr Klymenko said on Telegram.
Ukraine also “received bodies of Russian soldiers mixed with those of Ukrainians” during the previous stages of the repatriation last week, he added.
Moscow’s Defence Ministry confirmed the handover, saying it had “fulfilled the agreement”.
It also said it was ready to “hand over another 2,239 bodies of fallen servicemen”, an offer extra to what was agreed in Istanbul.
Moscow said it had received the bodies of 51 dead Russian soldiers in return, taking the total number handed over by Ukraine in the latest exchanges to 78.
Kyiv initially said the two sides had agreed to “exchange” the bodies of 6,000 dead Ukrainian soldiers, though Russia has always presented it as a unilateral decision.
Tens of thousands of soldiers have been killed on both sides since Russia invaded in February 2022
Neither side releases regular or reliable figures on the number of their own casualties, but they do publish claims about the other side’s losses that are widely seen as inflated. AFP
