Russia and Ukraine exchanged the remains of 275 soldiers killed during the war, officials and Belarusian state media reported Thursday.
The exchange took place at the Novaya Guta border crossing point in Belarus, Shamsail Saraliyev, a State Duma lawmaker from the ruling United Russia party and member of a parliamentary group dedicated to the conflict, told the RBC news outlet.
Russia handed over 252 bodies to Ukrainian authorities, while Ukraine returned 23 bodies.
“Belarus continues its humanitarian mission,” the country’s state news agency Belta said in a report that included photos of the exchange.
The Ukrainian military confirmed the swap and credited its search teams for continuing their work “despite the threat of drone strikes, remote mining and enemy shelling.”
Ukraine’s Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War said law enforcement agencies will work to identify the 252 returned bodies. It said the International Committee of the Red Cross assisted in the exchange.
Repatriations of fallen soldiers and prisoner-of-war exchanges remain among the few channels of direct communication between Russia and Ukraine since President Vladimir Putin ordered the full-scale invasion in 2022.
The previous exchange of bodies took place on Aug. 13, when Russia received 24 of its fallen soldiers and Ukraine received 261.
