Ukraine Pulls Back from Soldier Remains Exchange? Russia Left Waiting Amid Fresh Tensions

Moscow: Earlier this month, delegations of Russia and Ukraine had agreed to exchange the bodies of 6,000 soldiers. This agreement was reached in the talks held in Istanbul, Turkey, but now this deal is in danger. Russia claims that Ukraine is backing out from exchanging the bodies of 6,000 soldiers. On the other hand, Ukraine says that Russia is playing 'dirty tricks' and distorting the facts. Both sides have their own claims, due to which the exchange of remains of soldiers is stuck.

Russian officials reiterated on Sunday that they are awaiting official confirmation from Ukraine on whether the plan to exchange the bodies of 6,000 soldiers killed in the war will be able to start or not. Moscow officials say that Kiev has postponed this exchange of remains of soldiers without any reason. At the same time, refrigerators containing the remains of the bodies were sent from their side on Saturday itself.

Why Zelensky does not want to explain: Russia

Russia's state media quoted Lieutenant General Alexander Zorin, a representative of the Russian negotiation group, as saying that refrigerators containing 1,212 bodies of Ukrainian soldiers have been sent to the place on the border where the exchange of remains is to take place. At this place, the Russian team is constantly waiting for confirmation from Ukraine. There are indications that the process of transferring the bodies will be postponed till next week.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has asked Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky whether the decision to not take back the bodies of his country's soldiers was his own or NATO has stopped it. On the other hand, Ukraine has said that the date for taking back the bodies was not fixed in the agreement with Russia. Ukraine also accused Russia of giving a list which is not in line with the agreements reached on Monday.

Talks were held in Turkey

Delegations from Russia and Ukraine had gathered in Turkey for peace talks. There was no progress towards ending the war in the meeting but an agreement was reached on the exchange of bodies. This raised hopes that both sides could move forward on a ceasefire in the coming times. However, now the chances of stopping this war which has been going on for more than three years are looking bleak.