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Russian officials showed journalists refrigerated trucks containing 1,212 bodies of Ukrainian Armed Forces soldiers in Bryansk region, as Moscow awaits official confirmation from Kyiv for a planned prisoner exchange.
Russian army Lieutenant General Alexander Zorin, representative of the Russian negotiation group, said Russia delivered the first batch of deceased Ukrainian servicemen to the exchange area in accordance with agreements reached in Istanbul.
"The Russian side, in full compliance with the schedule agreed upon with the Ukrainian side in Istanbul, delivered the bodies of Ukrainian soldiers prepared for return to the exchange area," Zorin said.
Foreign journalists and film crews were present at the location, according to TASS correspondent reports.
"This is the first batch—1,212 bodies of Ukrainian Armed Forces military personnel, many of whom have been identified," Zorin stated.
Zorin said all bodies were identified as Ukrainian Armed Forces servicemen based on their uniforms and locations where they were found.
"All of them have been identified as members of the Ukrainian Armed Forces based on their uniforms and the places where they were found," he said.
Moscow is waiting for official confirmation from Kyiv that the body transfer will take place, Zorin announced.
On Sunday, Zorin said trains with the bodies of Ukrainian soldiers will start moving to the border within an hour, according to the Russian media outlet TASS.
Russian officials made several statements regarding the exchange process
Russian representatives emphasized that the body return initiative is purely humanitarian, not a politicized decision.
Zorin also said Sunday that there were signals that the transfer of the bodies would be postponed until next week.
"There are signals that the process of transferring Ukrainian Armed Forces bodies will allegedly be postponed to next week; Russia is waiting for notification through a special channel," officials stated.
Russian officials said they are ready to work immediately on transferring the bodies of the deceased to Kyiv and are interested in implementing this purely humanitarian action.
On Saturday, Russia said that Ukraine had unexpectedly postponed exchanging prisoners of war and accepting the bodies of killed soldiers for an indefinite period. Kyiv said Russia's claims were untrue.
Ukraine's Prisoner of War Coordination Center issued a statement disputing Russian claims.
"The Russian side's statements today do not correspond to the facts and previously reached agreements, neither regarding prisoner exchange nor the return of bodies," the center said.
Prisoner of War Coordination Center also added, "Over the past week, teams from both sides worked to bring back soldiers' bodies and exchange prisoners. Ukraine submitted an exchange list formed according to clearly defined categories agreed upon in Istanbul discussions regarding prisoner exchange. The Russian side submitted different lists that did not comply with the agreed approach."
Russian President's advisor Vladimir Medinsky previously stated, "The Ukrainian side unexpectedly postponed the acceptance of bodies and prisoner exchange for an indefinite period. The Ukrainian group, for some reason, did not even come to the exchange area."
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