Russia has announced it will dispatch trains carrying the bodies of Ukrainian soldiers to the border, amid rising tensions with Kyiv over a stalled prisoner of war exchange, according to CNN.
Lieutenant General Alexander Zorin stated on Sunday, “In just an hour, repatriation trains carrying the bodies of military personnel will begin to move.” The move follows a failed prisoner swap scheduled for Saturday and comes as Russia accuses Ukraine of not confirming the receipt of the bodies already transported to an exchange point near Novaya Guta, Belarus.
Zorin said the transfer of over 6,000 bodies had been agreed upon earlier in the week during peace negotiations in Istanbul.
However, Ukraine has firmly rejected Russia’s allegations. Kyrylo Budanov, head of Ukrainian Defence Intelligence, clarified that the repatriation was scheduled to begin next week and that Russia was informed of the timeline on Tuesday. “Everything is going according to plan,” Budanov said.
Russia has accused Ukraine of abruptly delaying the swap and leaving hundreds of bodies in refrigerated trucks at the border. In contrast, Ukrainian officials dismissed these claims as part of the Kremlin’s “dirty information games,” stating that while a swap of prisoners—especially seriously wounded and younger troops—was discussed, no date had been finalized for the return of soldiers’ remains.
The exchange had been the only tangible outcome from the recent round of peace talks in Istanbul, which aimed to ease tensions after three years of ongoing conflict. Russia’s chief negotiator Vladimir Medinsky had described the planned exchange as the largest of its kind since the war began.
As both sides present conflicting accounts, the humanitarian effort to return fallen soldiers remains in limbo, highlighting the fragility of diplomatic negotiations amid ongoing warfare.
