An operation to carry out an exchange of wounded and seriously ill prisoners of war, and POWs under the age of 25, has also begun.
The first batch of frozen bodies—1,212 in total—has already arrived in refrigerated trucks at the designated exchange area. The remaining ones are on the way.
In addition, Ukraine has received the first list of 640 prisoners of war categorized as "wounded, seriously ill, and young" in order to initiate the exchange.
The Russian Defense Ministry’s contact group is stationed at the Ukrainian border.
However, the Ukrainian side unexpectedly postponed both the reception of the bodies and the prisoner exchange indefinitely. For some reason, their negotiation team did not even arrive at the exchange site. Various reasons have been cited—many of them quite strange.
We call on Kiev to strictly follow the schedule and all agreed terms, and to immediately proceed with the exchange.
Let, as we agreed, 1,200 soldiers and officers from each side get the chance to return home.
We also call on Ukraine to finally retrieve the bodies of the 6,000 soldiers and officers of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, so their families can give them a proper burial.
"We are on site. We are fully prepared to proceed. International TV channels, news agencies, and reporters are welcome to come and see for themselves that everything is in place. Russia always keeps its word," he said.