Russia slips the bodies of its dead soldiers into Ukraine’s swap convoys. Kyiv has received over 6,060 bodies from Moscow under the Istanbul agreements on the exchange of war dead, but many of them are not Ukrainian. Instead, Moscow is mixing in the remains of its own fallen troops, says Artur Dobroserdov, Ukraine’s Commissioner for Missing Persons, ArmyInform reports. 

Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko has called the practice a stark reminder of how little human life means to the Russian state.

“Or maybe it’s just a way to avoid paying death benefits,” Klymenko claims.

The bodies are often severely mutilated, complicating identification. The process typically lasts for 13–14 months or more. If a body is visually intact, Ukraine sometimes accesses databases to identify Russian soldiers and return them to Moscow. 

One particularly egregious example was Body No. 192/25, which arrived in Russian military fatigues and carried a full set of Russian documents, including a military ID, internal passport, soldier’s service ticket, and a tag marked: VS ROSSII MT-146004.

Ukrainian officials later confirmed the remains were those of Aleksandr Viktorovych Bugayev, a soldier from the 1st Battalion of Russia’s 39th Separate Guards Motor Rifle Brigade. He had gone missing near Novomykhailivka, Donetsk Oblast, in late March. His family had been searching for him for months.

Ukraine returns the bodies of Russian soldiers back to Russia.

As part of a painful but vital repatriation process, Ukraine has reportedly received another 1,200 bodies of fallen soldiers from Russia, part of an agreement brokered in Istanbul, the Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War (CHTPW) announces. 

This exchange follows two earlier repatriations on 13 June and 11 June, during which 1,200 and 1,212 bodies, respectively, were returned to Ukraine.

According to Defense Minister Rustem Umerov, who led the Ukrainian delegation in Istanbul, this exchange symbolizes a necessary step toward restoring dignity to fallen defenders.

“An agreement was reached to return 6,000 bodies of fallen soldiers in exchange for 6,000,” he explains.

In the coming days, Ukrainian law enforcement, forensic teams from the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and other agencies will conduct examinations and procedures to return names to those unidentified.