Russia and Ukraine exchanged the remains of 285 soldiers killed during the war, the RBC outlet reported Thursday, citing a Russian lawmaker.
Ukraine received the bodies of 261 of its soldiers while handing Russia the remains of 24 soldiers, said Shamsail Saraliyev, a State Duma lawmaker from the ruling United Russia party and member of a parliamentary group dedicated to the conflict.
Repatriations of fallen soldiers and prisoner-of-war exchanges remain among the few channels of direct communication between Moscow and Kyiv since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in 2022.
Friction over POW swaps emerged this week as Russia’s Human Rights Ombudswoman Yana Lantratova accused Ukraine of refusing the next exchange.
Lantratova on Wednesday and Thursday published a list of 497 Ukrainian prisoners of war and convicted soldiers whom she said Moscow was ready to hand over to Kyiv.
