Ukrainian Side Unexpectedly Delays, Medinsky States

The Russian Federation began the process today of transferring the bodies of fallen soldiers to Ukraine and organizing the exchange of the wounded and prisoners of war. This was announced by Vladimir Medinsky, Putin's aide.

“The Ukrainian side unexpectedly delayed both the acceptance of bodies and the exchange of prisoners of war for an indefinite period,” he noted.

Medinsky reported that Russia has provided Ukraine with the first list of 640 names of prisoners of war—wounded, seriously ill, and young individuals that are to be exchanged.

He added that apart from this, the first batch of frozen bodies of Ukrainian soldiers, numbering 1,212, has already arrived at the exchange zone via refrigerated trucks. However, the Ukrainian side has postponed the timelines.

In his statement, Medinsky mentioned that the reasons given were varied and quite strange. “We call on Kyiv to strictly adhere to the timeline and all agreements reached, and to begin the exchange immediately,” the statement from Medinsky read.