Ukraine has received the remains of 1,212 soldiers killed in the ongoing war with Russia, as part of a bilateral agreement reached during direct negotiations held in Istanbul, Turkey, on June 2, Ukrainian authorities announced Wednesday.

In a statement published on the social platform X, Ukraine’s Coordination Center for the Treatment of Prisoners of War confirmed that the bodies were recovered from various regions, including Kharkiv, Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson, as well as Russia’s Kursk region.

The center noted that the exchange was conducted in coordination with the International Committee of the Red Cross and relevant Ukrainian institutions, which played a significant role in the repatriation process.

Efforts to identify the recovered soldiers will begin immediately, the statement said, with the aim of returning the remains to their families for burial with full military honors.

This exchange is part of a broader agreement finalized during the Istanbul talks, which also included commitments for prisoner swaps and the return of approximately 6,000 Ukrainian soldiers’ bodies.