Ukraine has received the remains of 1,000 fallen soldiers and civilians from Russia as part of a continuing repatriation agreement, the Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War announced on Wednesday.

The latest exchange was facilitated through ongoing negotiations held in Istanbul, where both Kyiv and Moscow have been engaged in rounds of humanitarian and diplomatic talks. Alongside the Ukrainian repatriation, Kyiv returned the bodies of 19 Russian soldiers, according to Vladimir Medinsky, who leads the Russian delegation in the negotiations.

The repatriation is part of a broader agreement reached on June 2 in Istanbul, which provided for the return of over 6,000 Ukrainian bodies. That phased transfer concluded on June 16, with 6,057 remains handed over to Ukrainian authorities. According to Ukrainian officials, Russia had included several Russian soldiers among the remains, prompting Kyiv to return three of them earlier this summer.

While the body transfers reflect a rare area of cooperation between the two warring nations, broader diplomatic progress remains elusive. Two rounds of peace negotiations held in Istanbul in May and June 2025 have thus far failed to yield a ceasefire or resolution to the conflict. However, they have produced significant humanitarian agreements, including the largest prisoner exchange of the war: 1,000 captives returned on each side.

Ukraine continues to advocate for a comprehensive “all-for-all” prisoner swap, with over 5,000 Ukrainian captives returned from Russian detention since the onset of the full-scale invasion in March 2022. Despite mounting pressure from international observers and human rights organizations, Moscow has so far resisted a full-scale exchange, leaving thousands of Ukrainian prisoners still in Russian hands.

The latest repatriation effort, though somber, underscores the limited yet ongoing channels of communication between Kyiv and Moscow amid a war that has entered its fourth year. It also highlights the continued role of Türkiye, particularly Istanbul, as a key venue for mediating humanitarian arrangements and diplomatic contacts between the two adversaries.

As both countries prepare for possible new rounds of prisoner and body exchanges, Ukrainian officials reaffirmed their commitment to bringing every soldier and citizen home and continuing efforts to ease the human cost of the protracted conflict. (ILKHA)