Ukraine received the body on Thursday that Russia said was 1,000 fallen soldiers, government officials said in a rare moment of cooperation between the two countries as peace talks remained stagnant.
The Ukrainian coordination headquarters for the treatment of Ukrainian prisoners of war, said officials would “run all necessary tests” to add identification as soon as possible “as soon as possible.”
It comes after Ukraine and Russia have held several prisoner exchanges. In the latest August, both countries moved 146 prisoners each.
The exchange and deal of prisoners to return fallen soldiers is two of the few concrete results of the three rounds of Istanbul between Russia and Ukraine, held from May to July.
Negotiations aimed at at least a temporary ceasefire to Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine are stagnant.
Moscow repeatedly attacked Ukraine. This took part in discussions aimed at finding an agreement to end it, including some of the biggest strikes since the start of all the wars that began in early 2022.
According to the Ukrainian Coordination Centre, the latest repatriation was carried out as part of a joint effort with the support of the military, Ukrainian security forces, the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Red Cross.
Ukraine previously claimed that Russia was Ukrainian and that Russia handed over the bodies of its soldiers.
Domestic media reported in June that three soldiers returned to Ukraine, who were actually part of a replacement for fallen soldiers, as part of a Moscow attempt to obscure the true scale of losses on the battlefield.
Despite the rare cases of cooperation on Thursday, talks between Russia and Ukraine continue to waver with President Donald Trump’s ultimatum and the Kremlin deadline, as well as deadlines for agreeing that peace will pass without consequences.
After Moscow used a FAB-250 bomb in a residential area, authorities said the Russian attack on Thursday killed at least five people in the town of Kostiantinibka.
Ukrainian President Voldimir Zelenki is seeking a jointly fused European air defense system in the face of continued Russian invasion.
Additional sources •AP
