Russia ready to hand over 3,000 more bodies of fallen Ukrainian soldiers
Russia is ready to transfer the remains of 3,000 more Ukrainian soldiers if Kiev agrees to accept them, Moscow's chief negotiator for the Ukraine conflict, Vladimir Medinsky, has said. He also rejected Kiev's claim that the body of a Russian soldier was among the remains handed over to Ukraine during a previous exchange.
Moscow has repatriated a total of 6,060 sets of remains, while Kiev returned the bodies of 79 slain Russian soldiers. The exchange was agreed upon during the latest round of direct talks, hosted by Türkiye earlier this month. Medinsky's Ukrainian counterpart, Defense Minister Rustem Umerov, suggested at the time that Kiev would hand over an equal number of fallen Russian troops.
The handover was jeopardized after Kiev reportedly refused to accept the first transfer, on June 7. Ukrainian officials blamed Russia for being too hasty, though the exchange proceeded the following day and more were carried over the past week.
'About 3,000 [bodies] are ready for transfer, if the [Ukrainian authorities] are willing to accept them,' Medinsky stated on Friday. 'Our military is ready to hand them over so that their families can finally identify and give them a Christian burial,' he added.
He also responded to Kiev's claims that Moscow had included a Russian soldier's body among the Ukrainian remains. Medinsky pointed out that that transfer occurred during a February exchange – something that Kiev had already confirmed – and noted that Moscow is aware of the situation and 'is looking into it.'
Earlier this week, Ukraine's Interior Minister Igor Klimenko accused Russia of 'deliberately complicating' the identification process, claiming that some of the remains handed over in a recent exchange had been labeled as Russian.
Medinsky dismissed the allegations – amplified by Western media – as propaganda, and likened the move to Nazi Germany's misinformation tactics. 'I would ask our Ukrainian negotiating partners to restrain their Western propagandists, so they don't make fools of themselves,' he said.
In April, Ukraine's Vladimir Zelensky stated in an interview that Ukraine had lost up to 100,000 troops since the conflict escalated in 2022.
Russian Defense Ministry estimates suggest that Kiev's losses are much higher. On Friday, President Vladimir Putin described the Ukrainian army's losses as 'catastrophic' and that it suffered more than 76,000 casualties in Russia's Kursk Region alone.
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