Russia has handed Kyiv the bodies of its own soldiers mixed in with those of Ukrainian soldiers during recent repatriation of the fallen, Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said on June 16.

Klymenko's statement follows the completion of an exchange between Ukraine and Russia of the remains of soldiers killed in action earlier the same day, under agreements reached during recent peace talks in Istanbul.

Kyiv returned a total of 6,057 bodies. Vladimir Medinsky, an aide to Russian President Vladimir Putin and member of the Russian delegation at the Istanbul talks, claimed that Russia received the bodies of 78 deceased servicemen.

According to Klymenko, the identification process has been significantly complicated by the condition in which Russia returned the bodies.

"Parts of the bodies (of fallen soldiers) are in different bags. There are cases when the remains of one person are returned even during different stages of repatriation," the minister said.

Klymenko said that Russia may have included the bodies of its own soldiers in the transfer to Ukraine either on purpose or by accident.

"This could have been done by the Russians on purpose to increase the number of bodies transferred and to load our (forensic) experts with work, adding to all this cynical information pressure. Or it could be their usual negligent attitude toward their own people. In any case, we also identify these bodies," Klymenko said.

The June 2 negotiations in Istanbul resulted in the most expansive prisoner and body exchange agreement of the full-scale war, although no ceasefire was reached.

The deal followed the largest-ever POW swap in late May, when 1,000 prisoners were exchanged on each side. Additional exchanges last week included severely wounded and sick soldiers.

Russia accused Ukraine on June 7 of rejecting a proposed body return, publishing footage allegedly showing Ukrainian corpses stored in refrigeration units. Kyiv dismissed the claims, saying the footage was filmed inside Russia and not at a designated exchange location.

Ukraine’s Foreign Intelligence Service reported on June 16 that Russia is preparing to escalate a disinformation campaign related to ongoing POW exchanges next week, aiming to provoke public outrage in Ukrainian society.

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Ukraine recovered another 1,200 bodies following the latest round of repatriation efforts, following agreements with Russia in Istanbul, the Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War said on June 15.

The last repatriation took place on June 14 when the bodies of 1,200 fallen Ukrainians were given back. Before that, 2,412 bodies were returned on June 13 and June 11 respectively, following the talks in Istanbul on June 2.

Law enforcement investigations and institutions from Ukraine’s Interior Ministry will examine and identify the bodies in the near future, the coordination headquarters said. The bodies reportedly include military personnel.

The repatriation operation was coordinated by the Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War alongside the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), the Ombudsman’s Office, the Armed Forces, the Interior Ministry, and other government and defense bodies. The International Committee of the Red Cross also provided assistance during the process.

While the Istanbul talks failed to foster a ceasefire, both sides agreed to new POW exchanges. Ukraine has long pushed for an "all-for-all"prisoner exchange to bring home all Ukrainian captives, but Moscow has resisted such a comprehensive deal.

After the talks, Russia said it would transfer 6,000 bodies to Ukraine, including soldiers and officers. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Ukraine would need to check the bodies that Russia is willing to return, as only 15% of the 6,000 have been identified.

"We had instances when they returned bodies that later were identified as their own," Zelensky said on June 2.

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The Kyiv IndependentOlena Goncharova

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.

On 7 June 2025, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot that direct negotiations between Ukraine and Russia remain essential for ending the war, according to a readout from the US Department of State.

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The US State Department reported that Rubio and Barrot spoke about global security developments. According to the official readout,

“Secretary Rubio underscored the importance of continued direct negotiations between Russia and Ukraine to achieve a lasting peace.”

In the same 7 June call, Rubio and Barrot “reaffirmed their shared commitment to preventing Iran from developing or obtaining a nuclear weapon.” They also discussed support for Israel and emphasized the need to free hostages held in Gaza by Hamas. However, the focus on Ukraine again highlighted Washington’s ongoing strategy of promoting negotiations with Russia.

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Rubio’s message comes days after a 2 June meeting in Istanbul between Ukrainian and Russian low-level representatives, where both sides agreed to a new exchange of prisoners and fallen soldiers.

ISW: Ukraine denies Russian claims on alleged blocking of POW and KIA body exchange

However, Ukraine’s First Deputy Foreign Minister Serhii Kyslytsya said that Russia again rejected an unconditional ceasefire. 

Ukraine has denied Russian claims that it had delayed a planned exchange of prisoners of war (POWs) and the bodies of fallen soldiers, reportedly scheduled for June 7-8.

Ukrainian and Russian delegations agreed to conduct a major swap, which would include severely injured prisoners and young people aged 18 to 25, during their second round of direct peace talks in Istanbul on June 2.

After the talks, Russia also pledged to transfer 6,000 bodies of fallen Ukrainian soldiers and officers to Ukraine. President Volodymyr Zelensky noted that preparations for exchanging the bodies would begin after the POW swap.

On June 7, however, Vladimir Medinsky, head of the Russian delegation in peace talks, claimed that the contact group of the Russian Defense Ministry was reportedly stationed at the border with Ukraine, but the Ukrainian side "unexpectedly postponed both the transfer of bodies and the POW exchange indefinitely."

Ukraine's Defense Ministry dismissed the claim as false, saying it was an attempt by Russia to avoid returning Ukrainian POWs from captivity and take their POWs back to Russia.

"Unfortunately, the Ukrainian side is once again facing attempts to retroactively revise agreements. If the Russian side is now backing away from what was promised in Istanbul, it raises serious questions about the reliability and capability of their negotiating team," the ministry wrote on Telegram.

Ukraine's Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of POWs also refuted Russia's claim, saying that "instead of constructive dialogue, Ukraine once again faced manipulations and attempts to exploit sensitive humanitarian issues for information purposes."

According to the headquarters, Ukraine submitted lists of POWs "formed according to clearly defined categories agreed upon during the negotiations in Istanbul," while the Russian side "provided different lists that do not correspond to the agreed approach."

The headquarters also added that an agreement on the repatriation of bodies of fallen soldiers was made, but the date was not set.

"Instead of consistently implementing the agreed procedure, the Russian side took unilateral actions that were not coordinated within the joint process," the statement reads.

"Unfortunately, instead of constructive dialogue, we are once again faced with manipulations and attempts to exploit sensitive humanitarian issues for information purposes. We remain committed to a real outcome — the return of our prisoners and the bodies of the fallen — and are ready to continue working within the agreed framework."

The latest direct Russia-Ukraine talks, hosted by Turkish officials, followed the first round of negotiations on May 16. The initial meeting ended with an agreement on the largest prisoner exchange of the war, but without any tangible progress toward a peace deal.

Ukraine has returned over 5,000 prisoners via exchanges with Russia since March 2022, according to officials. Kyiv has repeatedly pressed Moscow to agree to an "all-for-all" prisoner exchange, but Russia has rejected the proposal.

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President Volodymyr Zelensky criticized Russia’s proposal for a 2–3-day local ceasefire to retrieve the bodies of fallen soldiers, speaking during a June 2 online press conference attended by the Kyiv Independent.

Russia proposed a temporary two- to three-day ceasefire in specific areas of the front line to allow for the retrieval of fallen soldiers' bodies, Russian presidential aide Vladimir Medinsky said on June 2. Medinsky, who heads Moscow’s delegation to the peace talks in Istanbul, made the statement during a press conference following the second round of negotiations with Ukraine.

"They just don’t see a ceasefire as such at the moment," Zelensky said of Russia's proposal. "As they said regarding a ceasefire, they are ready for a 2–3-day ceasefire to retrieve the dead from the battlefield. I think they’re idiots, because, fundamentally, a ceasefire is meant so that there are no dead."

"You can see their attitude. For them, this is just a brief pause in the war," the president added.

"That’s why we really want our American partners to push a sanctions package through the Senate with decisive steps — to pressure the Russians into a ceasefire with strong sanctions. They don’t understand any other way for now."

U.S. President Donald Trump Trump said on May 28 that the U.S. would soon know whether Russian President Vladimir Putin is serious about ending the war. If not, he warned, Washington would "respond a little bit differently."

The U.S. president said he had not yet imposed new sanctions on Russia because he believed a peace deal might be within reach. "If I think I'm close to getting a deal, I don't want to screw it up by doing that," he said, but added he is prepared to act if Moscow stalls further.

Ukraine's official proposal, obtained by the Kyiv Independent on June 2, suggests that some existing sanctions against Russia could be lifted in the event of a full ceasefire. However, the plan includes a key condition: sanctions would be automatically reinstated if Russia violates the ceasefire terms.

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