Russia has transferred the bodies of another 1,245 Ukrainians to Ukraine, bringing the total number of bodies returned under the Istanbul Agreements to 6,057.
The Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War (POWs) reported on Telegram that this marks the final stage of repatriation as agreed during talks in Istanbul.
According to the Russian side, the bodies belong to Ukrainian citizens, including servicemembers.
The Headquarters said the identification process will now begin, with the involvement of experts from the Ministry of Internal Affairs and law enforcement. Examinations and DNA analysis will be conducted to establish the identities of the deceased.
Specialists from Ukraine’s Central Directorate of Civil-Military Cooperation and the Joint Support Center of the Central Military Commission played a key role in transporting the bodies to specialized institutions for forensic examinations, the report read.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) also assisted in the repatriation process.
Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov confirmed the completion of this phase and emphasized that Ukraine’s mission continues.
“We are not stopping. The next stage is ahead: we continue the fight for the return of prisoners,” Umerov said.
The Russian Defense Ministry has announced Moscow’s “readiness to transfer” more than 2,200 additional bodies of deceased Ukrainian servicemen to Ukraine.
According to the ministry, 1,248 bodies were transferred to Ukraine on Monday, which Russia claims belonged to AFU personnel.
As part of the same operation, Ukraine returned the bodies of 51 deceased Russian servicemen, the Russian Defense Ministry said.
In total, Moscow claims to have transferred 6,060 bodies of fallen Ukrainian soldiers to Kyiv as part of what it calls a “large-scale humanitarian action.”
The Russian Defense Ministry also reported that Ukraine has so far transferred 78 bodies of Russian servicemen in total.
At this stage, Russia says it is prepared to transfer another 2,239 bodies of deceased Ukrainian servicemen.
During the second round of talks in Istanbul, Ukraine and Russia agreed to a “6,000-for-6,000” formula for the exchange of bodies. The latest repatriation efforts were carried out on June 11 and from June 13 to 15.
On June 15, Russia handed over another 1,200 bodies of deceased Ukrainian citizens.
Russian state media previously claimed that Moscow had returned 1,200 bodies of Ukrainian Armed Forces (AFU) personnel to Kyiv on June 13, while receiving none in return. However, a representative of Ukraine’s Coordination Headquarters dismissed this claim, stating that “everything is proceeding according to the agreements.”
The previous major transfer occurred in mid-May, when 909 bodies were returned, many of whom were soldiers killed in some of the war’s fiercest battles. Reports indicate that some of these bodies had been held in Russian morgues.
Before that, similar exchanges took place on March 28 and in mid-April, with 909 bodies repatriated in each instance.
Unlike Ukraine, which regularly reports on the return of fallen soldiers, Russia does not publicly acknowledge the repatriation of its own dead and has not updated its official casualty figures since late 2022, when it claimed fewer than 6,000 Russian troops had been killed.
On June 12, Ukraine’s General Staff reported that Russia’s total combat losses since the start of the full-scale invasion on February 24, 2022, had exceeded 1,000,000 personnel, including both killed and wounded.
According to Ukrainian estimates, over 628,000 of those losses occurred in the past year and a half alone. In 2022, Russia lost an estimated 106,720 personnel, averaging 340 per day.
By June 4, 2025, the number had soared past 200,000 for the year, averaging 1,286 Russian soldiers lost per day.