Of the 6,000 bodies of soldiers that Russia agreed to hand over, only 15% have been identified – Zelenskyy

Of the 6,000 bodies of fallen soldiers that Russia agreed to hand over to Ukraine, only 15% have been identified, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said during a conversation with journalists following talks in Istanbul.

The Head of State recalled that in Istanbul, Ukraine and Russia agreed to exchange the bodies of the dead soldiers in a 6,000-for-6,000 format, but emphasized that "it is very necessary to carefully study this issue."

"I told Defense Minister Umerov about this. Why? Because, as we learned, 15% of these 6,000 were identified as Russians. It is very important to check everything," the president said.

Zelenskyy noted that it was necessary to collect the bodies of all the defenders, but emphasized that there had already been a case when the occupiers, together with the Ukrainians, handed over their own killed soldiers.

• The new Istanbul talks lasted a little over an hour, during which Ukraine and Russia agreed to hold a new exchange of prisoners and 6,000 bodies of those killed on both sides.
• The head of the Russian delegation, Medinsky, said that a temporary ceasefire would be established on some sections of the front to collect the bodies of the dead. Zelenskyy said that in this way Moscow wants to postpone sanctions.
• The President noted that during the negotiations, the occupiers admitted that they had kidnapped Ukrainian children. The Russian delegation offered to return up to 10 children to Ukraine, despite the list of almost 400 abducted minors that Kyiv provided.
• Russia has also finally delivered the promised "memorandum" – a vision for ending the war with maximalist demands on Ukraine. Kyiv provided Moscow with such a document in advance. The parties will study each other's memoranda for a week.