1,212 bodies of soldiers repatriated in the latest swap with Russia

The bodies of 1212 Ukrainian soldiers have been returned from Russia, Kiev says as part of an agreement to exchange prisoners between warring countries.

In return, Russia received 27 bodies, said Moscow’s chief negotiator Vladimir Medinsky.

The prison exchange deal was the only tangible result of peace talks in Turkey last week, with both sides agreeing to hand over up to 6,000 dead bodies, as well as sick and severely wounded prisoners of war and those under 25 years of age.

Medinsky has announced that Russia will start exchanging “severely wounded prisoners” on Thursday.

Dead soldiers were from different regions of Ukraine, including Donetsk, Harciw, Herson and Procerns, the coordination center of Ukraine for the treatment of prisoners of war, Telegram reported.

The center added that “it will establish the identity of the deceased as soon as possible.”

This is not the first time the dead bodies have been repatriated in this conflict – thousands have already been exchanged in more than 70 separate repatrios.

This exchange follows a few days of accusations from Moscow that Ukraine did not gather the bodies that Medinsky said he was sitting in refrigerated trucks in exchanging an exchange from Saturday.

Medinski also said on Saturday that Ukraine “unexpectedly postponed” prisoners’ swamps. In response, Ukraine said Russia played “dirty tricks” and manipulated the facts.

The first round of exchanges took place on Monday. There were emotional scenes as the families of missing Ukrainian soldiers gathered near the border with Belarus to press the returning prisoners for information about their loved ones.

Soldiers on both sides were exchanged that dayBut neither Russia nor Ukraine gave the exact number of people.