Russia has not yet provided complete lists for the exchange of bodies of the dead – Zelenskyy

Russia still has not provided full lists of more than 1,000 people for the exchange of bodies of fallen soldiers, which Kyiv and Moscow agreed to in Istanbul on June 2, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in an evening address.

On June 7-8, the Head of State had talks with the Minister of Defense and head of the delegation Rustem Umerov, the head of military intelligence (HUR) and head of the Coordination Headquarters Kyrylo Budanov, and the head of the Security Service of Ukraine Vasyl Malyuk.

"Ukraine continues to do everything possible to ensure the release of our prisoners and the return of our fallen Ukrainian soldiers. Unfortunately, we still do not have complete lists from Russia for a thousand people plus – as we agreed in Istanbul. That is, the Russian side, as always, in its spirit, is trying to play some dirty political and information game in these issues," the President said.

According to him, the Ukrainian side believes that the exchange track will be able to continue and is doing everything necessary for this.

According to Zelenskyy, if the Russians do not adhere to agreements even on such humanitarian issues, this "will greatly question all international efforts – and in particular the efforts of the United States – regarding negotiations and diplomacy."

• On June 8, the head of the HUR Budanov announced that the exchange of the bodies of the dead soldiers was scheduled for next week.
• The head of the Coordination Staff stressed that Ukraine is facing information pressure and attempts by the occupiers to unilaterally dictate the terms of the exchange process. The day before, the occupiers unilaterally announced that they had begun transporting the bodies of the dead to the exchange site, although they had not coordinated this with the Ukrainian side (more details here).