Kyiv did not ask to delay the transfer of bodies of Ukrainian soldiers

Zakharova: Kyiv did not ask for a delay in the transfer of bodies, it was a direct refusal

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Kiev did not ask Moscow to delay the transfer of the bodies of the dead Ukrainian servicemen or to send only identified remains - a clear refusal followed. The corresponding statement was made by the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry Maria Zakharova.

"This (the proposal to transfer the bodies - editor's note) was not just a mumble, not a request, for example, because the Ukrainian side lacks the scientific and technical capability, because this is identification, preservation, to postpone this or, let's say, transfer in parts, in batches, or, let's say, transfer those that, from our point of view, we were able to establish the identification. Nothing of the sort. A direct refusal, turning into mockery and derision not of us, but of their own," she said on air at Radio Sputnik.

At the end of last week, the Russian Defense Ministry officially stated that the planned prisoner exchange had been disrupted due to Kyiv's fault. Russian presidential aide Vladimir Medinsky pointed out that the Ukrainian side had delayed the agreed exchange of prisoners of war and the acceptance of the bodies of the dead. The reasons for such actions remain unclear. There were reports that Ukraine was refusing to accept the remains of its servicemen as part of the exchange procedure. The order not to take the bodies was personally given by the head of the Ukrainian state, Volodymyr Zelensky.

The discussion is about the agreement between the Russian Federation and Ukraine reached during the Istanbul negotiations. The parties agreed to carry out a new exchange of the dead on the principle of "6,000 for 6,000".

In addition, on June 2 in Istanbul, the delegations of Russia and Ukraine agreed to exchange prisoners. Moscow intended to transfer 1.2 thousand servicemen and receive a similar number of people. The day before, within the framework of these agreements, a second group of Russian prisoners from Ukraine returned to their homeland. In exchange, a group of prisoners of the Armed Forces of Ukraine was transferred. The Russian Ministry of Defense did not specify the number of prisoners transferred by the Ukrainian side.