In a rare act of cooperation amid an otherwise unrelenting war, Russia and Ukraine on Friday exchanged the remains of nearly 1,000 fallen soldiers in the second such large-scale body swap in less than a month. Officials from both nations confirmed the exchange, highlighting that even during intense hostilities, limited humanitarian coordination efforts persist.
According to Ukraine’s Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War, the bodies of 909 Ukrainian servicemen were returned to Kyiv during the exchange. Most of the fallen soldiers were recovered from the front lines of eastern and southeastern Ukraine, including the fiercely contested Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kharkiv regions. Some remains also came from the northeastern Sumy region, where Ukrainian military officials warn that Russian troops may be preparing for a new offensive.
The soldiers repatriated in this exchange had fallen in some of the bloodiest battles of the ongoing war, which has now stretched into its third year. Ukrainian authorities pledged to identify the bodies and return them to families for proper burials.
Russia, meanwhile, received the remains of 41 of its own soldiers, according to State Duma lawmaker Shamsail Saraliyev, who spoke to the RBC news outlet. The disparity in numbers reflects the ongoing intensity of fighting in Ukrainian-held regions, where Ukrainian troops have continued to mount defense operations amid ongoing Russian offensives.
Friday’s exchange marks the eighth time since October that the two sides have swapped the remains of 500 or more Ukrainian troops. The last major exchange took place on March 28, when Ukraine received 909 bodies while Russia took back 43 of its dead.
Despite the collapse of broader diplomatic channels and ongoing military escalations, these coordinated exchanges represent one of the few remaining forms of communication between Moscow and Kyiv. Both sides work through intermediary organizations and, in some cases, humanitarian agencies to facilitate the return of remains to grieving families.
The staggering human cost of the war continues to mount. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, in a recent interview with CBS News, stated that as many as 100,000 Ukrainian soldiers have been killed since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022. This figure represents the highest public estimate from Ukrainian leadership to date.
Russia, on the other hand, has not released updated casualty statistics since the fall of 2022, when it officially acknowledged fewer than 6,000 deaths. However, independent investigations paint a very different picture. A joint analysis by Russian news outlet Mediazona and BBC News Russia has confirmed the names of around 100,000 Russian soldiers killed in action—based solely on publicly available records such as obituaries, burial notices, and social media posts.
The regions from which the Ukrainian bodies were recovered—Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, Kharkiv, and Sumy—are currently some of the most volatile in the conflict. Russian forces have made recent gains in Donetsk, while skirmishes continue around the strategic city of Avdiivka. Ukrainian officials have warned of possible Russian troop buildups in Sumy, suggesting that a renewed eastern offensive may be imminent.
Though the conflict shows no signs of abating, the coordinated return of the dead provides a rare moment of dignity and relief for the families of soldiers on both sides. Military analysts note that these exchanges are critical not only for humanitarian reasons but also for maintaining morale among troops and public support in each country.
As the war drags on and casualty numbers climb, such exchanges may become more frequent—even as the battlefield grows more brutal.
