Russia Hands Over Bodies of 6,060 Ukrainian Soldiers
Russian personnel hand over bodies of Ukrainian soldiers, June 2025. X/ @JoaoPitillo
June 16, 2025 Hour: 7:36 am
President Putin stated that Russia was prepared to continue negotiations with Ukraine after June 22.
On Monday, the head of the Russian negotiating team, Vladimir Medinsky, announced that his country had completed the handover of 6,060 bodies of Ukrainian soldiers killed in combat.
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“Russia has fulfilled the promises made in Istanbul: The bodies of 6,060 officers and soldiers of the Ukrainian Armed Forces have been handed over to the Ukrainian side,” he said. He also noted that Ukraine had returned the bodies of 78 Russian soldiers in exchange.
“The prisoner exchange continues,” he added, referring to the swap of prisoners of war under the age of 25, as well as those seriously ill or wounded, under an “all for all” arrangement. He also stated that “urgent medical evacuations of severely wounded soldiers from the front lines” were being carried out.
The Russian Defense Ministry confirmed the transfer of the 6,060 deceased soldiers and expressed readiness to hand over “an additional 2,239 bodies of Ukrainian military personnel” to Kyiv.
The repatriation of Ukrainian soldiers’ bodies began last week, with daily transfers of around 1,200 remains. In addition to the exchange of bodies, the two sides have begun a prisoner swap, through which an unspecified number of soldiers under 25 years old and those wounded have returned to their respective countries. The implementation of these initiatives is expected to continue this week.
On Friday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the parties would determine their next steps after completing the exchanges.
In a phone call with U.S. President Donald Trump on Saturday, Russian President Vladimir Putin stated that his country was prepared to continue negotiations with Ukraine after June 22.
teleSUR/ JF
Source: EFE