“In the context of the Istanbul agreements, the bodies of 1,000 dead personnel were handed over to Ukraine. Russia received the bodies of 26 Russian soldiers killed in action,” Medinsky wrote on his Telegram channel this Friday.

Russia and Ukraine previously agreed to continue medical exchanges of seriously wounded or sick soldiers.

Moscow reported that it is ready to send 3,000 other bodies of deceased soldiers to Kiev.

Additionally, Russian authorities proposed a prisoner swap with Kyiv on a 1,200-for-1,200 formula.

Delegations from Russia and Ukraine resumed in May direct talks in Istanbul, Turkiye, for the first time in more than three years.

Two more rounds of negotiations have taken place since then, the most tangible results of which have so far been the acceleration of prisoner swaps between the belligerent parties and the repatriation of thousands of bodies of deceased combatants.

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