Return without names: Russia and Ukraine conducted a new exchange of the bodies of the deceased

Russia and Ukraine conducted another round of exchanging the bodies of deceased military personnel. The Ukrainian Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War reported the return to the country of 1003 bodies, which, according to the Russian side, belong to Ukrainian military personnel.

This concerns one of the most sensitive and difficult elements of the war — the return of the fallen, where numbers always speak louder than any statements.

What is known about the exchange itself

Assistant to the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Medinsky stated that under the agreements reached in Istanbul, 1000 bodies of deceased Ukrainian soldiers were handed over to Ukraine. In return, according to him, 26 bodies of Russian army servicemen were handed over to the Russian side.

The process took place with the assistance of the International Committee of the Red Cross, which traditionally acts as a mediator in such humanitarian operations, especially in conditions of active conflict and limited trust between the parties.

Istanbul agreements and their continuation

Historically, these exchanges became possible after the first direct negotiations in almost three years between the delegations of Ukraine and the Russian Federation, which took place in May 2025 in Istanbul.

At that time, the parties agreed on the exchange of severely wounded, prisoners of war aged 18 to 25, as well as the transfer of bodies of the deceased. Since then, several rounds of such exchanges have been conducted, each accompanied by separate clarifications and disputes.

The problem of identification

The Ukrainian side has repeatedly raised the issue of the condition of the bodies that are received as part of such transfers. According to official structures, many of them have damage that significantly complicates identification.

This creates additional risks — both for establishing the identity of the deceased and for trust in the exchange procedure itself. In some cases, suspicions have been publicly pointed out in Ukraine that among the transferred bodies there might have been citizens of the Russian Federation, not Ukrainian military personnel.

The humanitarian side of the war

The transfer of the bodies of the deceased is not just an exchange of numbers. Behind each such case are families, years of waiting, and attempts to get answers. That is why any inaccuracies, delays, or doubts in identification are perceived especially acutely.

Amid ongoing hostilities, such exchanges remain a rare channel of direct interaction between the parties, where politics takes a back seat to the human cost of war.

The topic of exchanges, their transparency, and international control remains one of the most complex and painful in the current conflict — and that is why it requires careful and balanced coverage, which remains a fundamental task for NAnews — News of Israel | Nikk.Agency.