Russia handed over another 1200 bodies of deceased soldiers to Ukraine, reported the Ukrainian coordination headquarters for handling prisoners of war.
In the near future, investigators from law enforcement agencies, together with expert institutions of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, will conduct all necessary examinations and identification of the repatriated bodies.
The previous handovers of bodies to the Ukrainian side took place on June 11, 13, and 14, with a total of 4800 bodies handed over to Ukraine this week. As part of the first phase of the handover, Ukraine handed over 27 bodies of Russian soldiers, and there have been no further reports from the Russian side.
On June 2, during negotiations in Istanbul, the delegations of Ukraine and Russia agreed on the exchange of severely wounded and seriously ill prisoners of war and the return of the bodies of deceased fighters. The head of the Ukrainian delegation, Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov, then stated that they "agreed on the return of 6,000 bodies of deceased soldiers (in exchange) for 6,000."