Ukraine has recovered 1,212 bodies of soldiers killed in the war with Russia. The Ukrainian officials responsible for exchanging prisoners of war said the soldiers died in battles across multiple regions, including Kharkiv, Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson.

In return, Russia received the remains of 27 of its soldiers, according to Vladimir Medinsky, the Russian government’s chief negotiator. Ukraine has not confirmed how many bodies it returned to Russia.

Russia had earlier accused Ukraine of delaying the process. It was alleged that they had been kept in refrigerated trucks since Saturday. Ukraine, however, denied this claim and accused Russia of acting without coordination. Ukrainian officials said there was no agreed date for the handover and accused Moscow of spreading misinformation.

“We will establish the identities of the deceased as soon as possible,” Ukraine’s coordination centre said in a statement on Telegram.

AGREEMENTS FROM ISTANBUL TALKS PUT INTO ACTION

One of the few results of the peace negotiations that took place in Istanbul earlier this month is the exchange. Both nations agreed during those talks to swap up to 6,000 bodies each, and prisoners under 25 and those with severe injuries.

Medinsky confirmed that Russia would begin exchanging severely wounded prisoners from Thursday.

Families of missing Ukrainian soldiers were spotted close to the Belarusian border, asking to return soldiers for any information they may have about their loved ones.

This is not the first time the two countries have exchanged the remains of fallen soldiers. According to Ukrainian officials, over 70 such repatriations have taken place during the course of the ongoing war.

PRISONERS OF WAR UNDER AGE 25 RETURN HOME

Russia and Ukraine have carried out a prisoner of war exchange involving POWs under the age of 25, Russia’s Defence Ministry said on Monday, saying the swap was the result of direct talks between Russia and Ukraine earlier this month.

The June 2 Istanbul talks resulted in an agreement to conduct an exchange of at least 1,200 POWs on each side – focusing on the youngest and most severely wounded – and to repatriate thousands of bodies of those killed in the war.

Both sides said it would be the biggest exchange once completed, something that was expected to happen in phases.

With inputs from Reuters