Russian officials said on Sunday that Moscow was still waiting for the official confirmation of Ukraine that a Planned exchange of 6,000 bodies Soldiers killed in action will take place, reiterating the allegations according to which Kyiv had postponed the exchange.
On the front line in warRussia said it had brought into the Dnipropetrovsk region of Ukraine.
The Russian state media cited Lieutenant-General Alexander Zorin, a representative of the Russian negotiation group, saying that Russia delivered the first batch of 1,212 organs of Ukrainian soldiers on the border exchange site and awaits the confirmation of Ukraine, but that there have been “signals” that the body transfer process would be postponic until next week.
Citing Zorin on her telegram channel, the spokesperson for the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Maria Zakharova, asked if it was the Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy not to take the bodies of the Ukrainians “or if” someone from NATO prohibited him “.
Ukrainian authorities said the plans agreed during Direct talks in Istanbul on Monday Consequently proceeded, despite what the intelligence chief of Ukraine, Kyrylo Budanov, described the Russian attempts to “unilaterally dictate the parameters of the exchange process”.
“We carefully adhere to the agreements concluded in Istanbul. Who, when and how to exchange should not be someone’s only decision. Careful preparation is underway. Pressure and manipulation are unacceptable here,” he said in a statement on Telegram on Sunday.
“The start of repatriation activities based on the results of negotiations in Istanbul is scheduled for next week, as authorized people were informed on Tuesday,” the statement said. “Everything evolves as planned, despite the information game on enemy information.”
Russia and Ukraine each accused the other Saturday of endangering plans to exchange 6,000 bodies of soldiers killed in combat, which were contained during the talks in Istanbul, who otherwise did not progress towards the end of the war.
Vladimir Medinsky, assistant to Russian president Vladimir Putin, led the Russian delegation. Medinsky said Kyiv called a last minute end to an imminent exchange. In a telegram post on Saturday, he said that refrigerated trucks carrying more than 1,200 Ukrainian troops in Russia had already reached the border exchange site when the news arrived.
According to the main Ukrainian authority dealing with these Swaps, no date had been set to replace the bodies. In a press release on Saturday, the agency also accused Russia of submitting lists of prisoners of war for repatriation which did not correspond to the agreements concluded on Monday.
It was not immediately possible to reconcile contradictory claims.
Russia says it is heading to the Dnipropetrovsk region
In other developments, the Ministry of Defense of Russia said on Sunday that its forces had reached the west edge of the Donetsk region, one of the four provinces that Russia illegally annexed in 2022 and that the troops “developed the offensive” in the neighboring region of Dnipropetrovsk. It would be the first time that Russian troops have been thrown into the region in the war of more than three years.
Ukraine did not immediately respond to the complaint and the Associated Press was unable to check it immediately.
Russia’s advance would mark an important setback for the already stretched forces of Ukraine while the peace talks remain at neutral and the Russian troops have achieved additional gains elsewhere.
Russia and Ukraine exchange air attacks
One person was killed and another seriously injured in Russian air strikes in the Ukrainian region of Eastern Kharkiv. These strikes came after Russian attacks Targeted the regional capital, also called Kharkiv on Saturday. Kharkiv regional police said on Sunday that the number of dead on Saturday’s attacks increased to six people. More than two dozen others were injured.
Russia has drawn a total of 49 explosive drones and lures and three missiles overnight, Ukraine’s air force said on Sunday. Forty drones have been slaughtered or blocked electronically.
The Russian Defense Ministry said its forces have shot down 61 Ukrainian drones overnight, including near the capital.
Five people were injured Sunday in a Ukrainian drone attack on a parking lot in the Belgorod region in Russia, according to regional governor Vyacheslav Gladkov. Two people were injured when a Ukrainian drone attack sparked a fire in a chemical factory in the Tula region, local authorities said.
Russian authorities said early Sunday that Vnukovo and Domodovo airports, two international airports in the Moscow service, temporarily suspended flights due to a Ukrainian drone attack. Later in the day, Domodedovo temporarily interrupted flights for the second time, with Zhukovsky airport.
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