Ukraine repatriates 1,000 fallen soldiers in latest exchange
on Google
Russia has returned the bodies or remains of 1,000 fallen soldiers to Ukraine during the latest repatriation exchange, the Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War reported on April 9.
Ukraine has returned the bodies of 41 fallen Russian soldiers in exchange, the Kremlin-controlled TASS news agency reported on April 9, citing its source.
The Coordination Headquarters said that law enforcement investigators and the Interior Ministry's expert agencies will conduct examinations to identify the repatriated individuals before handing them over to their families for burial.
The latest repatriation exchange comes as the U.S. pushes Ukraine and Russia to continue peace talks to reach a deal to end the war. Negotiations over the repatriation of bodies are among the few Kyiv-Moscow channels that continue to function, more than four years into the full-scale war.
More bodies of Ukrainian soldiers, which are often difficult for front-line units to retrieve due to Russian advances, have returned home after peace talks began in early 2025.
Despite enduring heavier losses in its war against Ukraine, Russia is likely handing over more bodies than it receives, as its troops have captured more Ukrainian remains and have been on the offensive for most of the war, according to the Kyiv-based independent analytical platform VoxUkraine.
The Istanbul Agreements refer to the 2025 Moscow-Kyiv negotiations held in Turkey, which paved the way for Ukraine to repatriate its fallen soldiers' bodies from Russia. The first repatriation under the Istanbul Agreements took place in June 2025, and thousands of bodies have been returned since then.
In a Telegram post, the Coordination Headquarters thanked the entities involved in carrying out the latest repatriation, including the International Committee of the Red Cross, civil-military cooperation units of Ukraine's Armed Forces, the Joint Center for Support Measures of the Armed Forces, and law enforcement agencies under the Interior and Health ministries.
