Kyiv Says It Has Repatriated 1,200 More Bodies Of Ukrainians Killed In War With Russia

By RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service June 13, 2025

Ukraine said it has repatriated another 1,200 bodies of its soldiers killed in the war sparked by Russia's full-scale invasion, the latest move in a series of prisoner exchanges negotiated between the two sides.

"As a result of the repatriation measures, the bodies of 1,200 killed were returned," Ukraine's Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War said in a statement on June 13.

"The repatriation took place in accordance with the agreements in Istanbul. According to the Russian side, the bodies belong to Ukrainian citizens, including military personnel," it added.

The agency responsible for exchanging prisoners of war also said the bodies were returned with the assistance of the International Committee of the Red Cross.

It gave no further details on the exchange and said Ukrainian investigators and expert institutions will begin to establish the identities of the deceased.

The swap is part of an ongoing agreement -- brokered between Ukraine and Russia during a second round of direct peace talks in Istanbul on June 2 -- that has seen busloads of POWs cross the border both ways.

According to Ukrainian and Russian officials, delegations agreed to repatriate the bodies of some 12,000 dead soldiers killed in the war.

Citing anonymous sources, Russian state news agency TASS said that while Russia handed back the bodies of 1,200 Ukrainian soldiers on June 13, it did not receive any in exchange.

There was no immediate information if Ukraine was supposed to transfer bodies of Russian soldiers the same day.

Since June 2, Russia and Ukraine have already conducted several prisoners of war exchanges under the age of 25, and the sides exchanged the bodies of soldiers killed in the war on June 11.

Another 1,000 prisoners from both sides were exchanged on May 23-25.

While the Istanbul talks reached a deal on exchanging prisoners, it failed to make any progress on ending Europe's longest and deadliest conflict since World War II.

Kyiv has expressed agreement with a US call for a 30-day cease-fire. Moscow has resisted and said certain conditions -- unacceptable to Ukraine -- must first be met.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy earlier said the exchanges were the only tangible positive result of the direct peace talks between Russia and Ukraine.

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/ukraine-russia-repatriation- bodies-war/33442314.html

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Kyiv Says It Has Repatriated 1,200 More Bodies Of Ukrainians Killed In War With Russia