Russia and Ukraine have exchanged the remains of more than 550 soldiers killed in the ongoing conflict, a senior Russian lawmaker confirmed on Thursday.
Shamsail Saraliyev, a State Duma deputy from the ruling United Russia party and a member of a parliamentary group focused on the war, stated that Ukraine received 522 bodies, while 33 were returned to Russia. Ukrainian officials later confirmed the exchange.
This latest transfer follows a similar exchange last month, when Kyiv authorities reported that Russia had returned 528 bodies of Ukrainian soldiers, while Russian media said Ukraine had handed over 41 fallen Russian servicemen.
That previous exchange took place alongside a prisoner-of-war swap mediated by the United Arab Emirates. Later in June, the two sides conducted an additional POW exchange, also with UAE involvement.
Since
Russia's full-scale invasion began in 2022, the return of fallen soldiers and
prisoner exchanges have remained among the very few areas of humanitarian
cooperation between the warring nations.