Russia returns 522 bodies to Ukraine

Russia has handed Ukraine the remains of 522 people it identified as killed soldiers, officials said on Thursday, one of the few acts of cooperation between the warring countries.

‘As a result of the repatriation efforts, the bodies of 522 deceased individuals have been returned to Ukraine,’ Ukraine’s prisoners of war center said on social media.

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‘According to the Russian side, the bodies belong to citizens of Ukraine, in particular servicemen,’ it added.

Russian parliamentarian Shamsail Saraliyev confirmed the information to Russian broadcaster RBC.

He said Russia had received the bodies of 33 of its own soldiers in return.

Ukraine did not say whether it handed any bodies to Russia.

Photos from the Ukrainian prisoners of war center showed masked men in white overalls unloading white trucks.

The swap announcement coincided with each side launching mass drone barrages at the other’s capitals.

Talks on ending more than four years of war remain frozen.

Since the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, exchanges of prisoners and the remains of fallen fighters have been one of the few areas of cooperation between Moscow and Kyiv.

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