Kyiv, Ukraine – January 29, 2026: Ukraine has received 1,000 bodies from Russia, which Moscow says belonged to Ukrainian soldiers killed in the ongoing conflict, the Kyiv Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War announced Thursday.

The transfer, part of a humanitarian exchange of remains and prisoners of war, is one of the few remaining areas of cooperation between Kyiv and Moscow, which invaded Ukraine in February 2022.

“Today, repatriation measures took place, under which 1,000 bodies of the deceased, which the Russian side claims belong to Ukrainian defenders, were returned to Ukraine,” the statement said.

Kremlin aide Vladimir Medinsky confirmed the exchange on Telegram, noting that Russia received the remains of 38 killed Russian soldiers. He said the exchange was facilitated under agreements reached between Ukrainian and Russian delegations in Istanbul last year.

While exact casualty figures remain unclear, tens of thousands of soldiers have been killed on both sides since the start of the war, with neither side consistently publishing official numbers.