Russia and Ukraine exchanged the bodies of fallen soldiers on Thursday, marking their first such repatriation operation this year and underscoring one of the few remaining channels of cooperation between the two adversaries.
According to State Duma lawmaker Shamsail Saraliyev, a member of the ruling United Russia party, Moscow transferred the remains of 1,000 Ukrainian soldiers and received the bodies of 38 Russian servicemen in return. Saraliyev confirmed the details to the RBC news website and released photographs from the exchange.
The images showed refrigerated trucks surrounded by personnel wearing white hazmat suits, alongside vehicles marked with the International Committee of the Red Cross emblem. The organisation assisted in facilitating the operation.
Meanwhile, Ukraine’s Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War confirmed the repatriation, expressing gratitude to the Red Cross for its role.
“Repatriation efforts took place today, resulting in the return to Ukraine of 1,000 bodies, which the Russian side claims belong to Ukrainian defenders,” the headquarters said in a Telegram statement.
Identification and Limited Cooperation
Ukrainian authorities said forensic procedures would now begin to establish the identities of the deceased. Law enforcement investigators will work alongside forensic experts to complete the process, the statement added.
Although officials did not disclose the exact location of the exchange, a photograph released by the Ukrainian side showed a road sign reading “Chernihiv.” This suggested the handover occurred in northern Ukraine, near the borders with Belarus and Russia’s Bryansk region.
Notably, the return of fallen soldiers and prisoner exchanges have remained among the few areas of sustained coordination since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Despite ongoing hostilities, both sides continued such operations last year. In 2025 alone, Moscow and Kyiv conducted 14 repatriation exchanges. As a result, Ukraine received the remains of 14,480 soldiers, while Russia recovered 391 bodies.
Consequently, Thursday’s exchange highlights a limited but persistent humanitarian mechanism operating amid an otherwise entrenched and prolonged conflict.
