Ukraine has again received hundreds of soldiers' bodies back from Russia, officials in Kiev said on Saturday.
The remains of 528 fallen, who could be Ukrainian soldiers according to the Russian side, were handed over to Kiev, the Ukrainian Office for Prisoner-of-War Affairs said. The International Committee of the Red Cross mediated.
There was initially no confirmation from the Russian side. However, the state news agency TASS reported the previous day that soldiers' bodies were also to be exchanged. Moscow would return 526 dead Ukrainian soldiers and receive 41 Russian bodies, it said, citing sources.
In such exchanges in recent years, the number of dead Ukrainians has always been significantly higher. The reason is believed to be that the Russian army has been steadily advancing and the withdrawing Ukrainian army often could not recover its dead.
A large prisoner exchange between Moscow and Kiev began the previous day. The exchange of a total of 1,000 prisoners of war was part of the agreement on a ceasefire from May 9 to 11 that US President Donald Trump mediated. The ceasefire mainly protected the military parade to mark Russia's World War II remembrance on May 9.
Russia has been waging a full-scale war against Ukraine for more than four years.
