Ukraine ‘received at least 20 bodies of Russian soldiers in recent exchanges’

Ukraine’s president said that Russia repatriated at least 20 of its own dead soldiers in recent exchanges with Ukraine, describing it as a result of Moscow’s disorganisation in carrying out large swaps of wounded POWs and remains of troops.

Volodymyr Zelensky said that an Israeli citizen was among the dead Ukraine had received in recent exchanges.

“They threw the corpses of their citizens at us. This is their attitude toward war, toward their soldiers. And this is already documented. Sometimes these bodies even have Russian passports,” he said.

He said the Russian side insisted the dead were all Ukrainians.

Journalists were shown a Russian passport and ID belonging to one of the 20 dead Russians. According to the document, the man came from the Moscow region.

The exchanges of the dead and wounded soldiers are the only tangible result of direct peace talks in Istanbul.

In June, Ukraine and Russia agreed to exchange the bodies of fallen soldiers in a 6,000-for-6,000 format during the second round of negotiations.

Ukraine was concerned that the number was too high and that the sides did not have enough time for forensic examinations and checking the identities of the dead.

Mr Zelensky said he suspected Russia’s plan was to play along with peace talks to appease the US and stave off more sanctions but without ending the war that Russian president Vladimir Putin believes he is winning.

He said that because of this, Ukraine would be “in a really difficult situation” of deciding whether to continue the talks in Istanbul.