Russia returns 1,212 bodies of Ukrainian servicemen, gets 27 in return

Moscow, Jun 11 (PTI) Russia on Wednesday returned 1,212 bodies of Ukrainian servicemen killed during the fighting on the eastern front and received 27 bodies in exchange.

"The transfer of fallen soldiers' bodies has begun in accordance with the Istanbul agreements," Russian Presidential aide Vladimir Medinsky wrote on his Telegram channel.

During the second round of talks with Ukraine in Istanbul on June 2, Russian negotiator Medinsky had offered to hand over 6,000 frozen bodies to Kiev without any preconditions and had expressed Moscow’s readiness to accept any such bodies of Russian servicemen.

Russia and Ukraine have also exchanged two batches of prisoners of war (PoWs) under the age of 25 as agreed in Istanbul.

On June 12, they are preparing a humanitarian exchange of seriously wounded PoWs requiring urgent hospitalisation, Medinsky said, according to the state-controlled Vesti FM radio. PTI VS GSP GSP