OREANDA-NEWS  Russia has transferred 1,212 bodies of Ukrainian Armed Forces soldiers to Ukraine and received 27 bodies of its military as part of the implementation of the agreements reached in Istanbul, Russian Presidential aide Vladimir Medinsky said.

"The transfer of the bodies of the dead soldiers has begun in accordance with the Istanbul agreements," he wrote on his Telegram channel.

"The work will continue all these days. Tomorrow we will also begin urgent "sanitary exchanges" of seriously wounded prisoners from the front line," Medinsky said.

Russian-Ukrainian agreements on the exchange of prisoners of war were reached on June 2 in Istanbul. Two categories of prisoners were subject to the exchange of "all for all" - the wounded and seriously ill, as well as persons under the age of 25.

The Ministry of Defense also said that Russia is ready to launch a large-scale humanitarian action to repatriate more than six thousand bodies of dead Ukrainian servicemen. On June 7, the Russian military announced that the bodies of 1,212 Ukrainian servicemen had been delivered to the exchange site, Ukraine had not contacted them, and the exchange had not taken place.

On June 9, the Russian Defense Ministry announced that the first group of Russian servicemen under the age of 25 had been returned from Ukrainian captivity as part of the exchange, and in return, a similar number of prisoners of war had been transferred to the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

On June 10, a second group of Russian servicemen was returned from Ukraine, and a group of prisoners of war of the Armed Forces of Ukraine was transferred instead.