Russia and Ukraine exchange bodies of dead soldiers
Ukraine and Russia are exchanging the bodies of dead soldiers in a new way, Ukrainian officials and Russian state media say.
Ukraine reported receiving 1,000 bodies, and Russian state news agency TASS quoted an unidentified source as saying 30 bodies had been returned to Russian authorities.
“Law enforcement investigators, together with specialized agencies of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, will soon carry out all necessary examinations and identify the repatriated bodies,” Ukraine’s POW coordination center said in a statement on Telegram. he said.
He thanked the Red Cross for mediating.
Amid the ongoing military exchange, Ukraine and Russia have repeatedly exchanged the bodies of the dead, making this the 15th such exchange this year.
Ukraine received the bodies of more than 15,000 soldiers in these exchanges.
Russia’s slow advance means Russia is bringing back more bodies from Ukraine.
During the war, which started with Russia’s all-out invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, the two sides exchanged live prisoners.
But peace talks have stalled and negotiators from the two sides have not met publicly face-to-face since July 23, when they met for just 40 minutes in Istanbul.
European countries on Thursday opposed a U.S.-backed peace plan for Ukraine that sources said would require Ukraine to give up more territory and be partially disarmed; these conditions had long been viewed by Ukraine’s allies as tantamount to surrender.
Ukraine has previously accused Russia of irregularly returning bodies and sometimes sending the remains of Russian soldiers.
Russian officials denied this.
The Ukrainian military announced on Thursday that Russia hit the Ryazan and Ilsky oil refineries.
The Ryazan refinery was hit overnight, one hit was recorded and fires were observed near secondary oil processing facilities, the Ukrainian military general staff said.
Ukraine also hit this refinery in a strike last week.
Separately, Ukraine’s drone force chief Robert Brovdi said the Ilsky refinery was hit by his units the previous night.
More than 400,000 Ukrainian consumers were left without electricity as of noon Thursday following Russia’s latest offensive against western regions of Ukraine, energy officials said.
The attack led to a decrease in the electricity production of Ukrainian nuclear power plants.
Ukraine produces more than half of its electricity at three nuclear power plants, but damage to power lines and transformers has forced the plants to reduce their output, a representative of Ukraine’s nuclear power company Energoatom told Reuters.
with DPA
