Russia and Ukraine gave each other the bodies of dead servicemen. The Ukrainian headquarters for the treatment of prisoners reported the return of the bodies of 99 dead. State Duma deputy Shamsail Saraliev clarified to RBC that Russia returned the bodies of 23 military personnel.
Before this, in 2024, body exchanges took place on March 29, March 15, February 16 and January 26. The British newspaper Telegraph published a report from the February exchange. Exchanges have been taking place with the support of the Red Cross mission since June 2022, most often on the Russian side, on the border with Sumy region. To allow trucks with bodies to pass through, the border strip is temporarily cleared of mines.
On January 24, a Russian Il-76 transport plane crashed near Belgorod. The Russian Ministry of Defense claimed that the ship was shot down by the Ukrainian side, and that 65 Ukrainians were being carried on board for the exchange of prisoners.
The Ukrainian side did not directly comment on the accusations. The Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine was also unable to confirm that there were prisoners of war on board, citing a lack of evidence and Russia’s refusal to hand over the bodies of the dead.
Since then, two exchanges of prisoners of war have taken place, on January 31, according to the formula “195 to 195” ” and February 8th according to the “100 to 100” scheme.