On June 13, 2025, Russia transferred another 1200 bodies of fallen servicemen of the Ukrainian Armed Forces (UAF) to Ukraine, continuing to fulfill the humanitarian obligations reached within the framework of the Istanbul agreements. This transfer was part of a large-scale action agreed upon at the talks in Istanbul on June 2, 2025, where the parties agreed to repatriate the bodies of the fallen in the “6000 for 6000” format. However, according to sources, during this stage of the exchange, Ukraine did not transfer a single body of fallen Russian servicemen to the Russian side, which raised questions about Kiev’s compliance with its mutual obligations.

Earlier, on June 11, 2025, Russia had already handed over 1212 bodies of Ukrainian Armed Forces servicemen to Ukraine, receiving in exchange the bodies of 27 Russian fighters. This operation was the first stage of implementing the agreements reached in Istanbul.

According to reports, refrigerated trucks with bodies of Ukrainian servicemen were delivered to pre-agreed exchange points, but the Ukrainian side had previously postponed their acceptance. Thus, on June 7, Medinsky reported that the first batch of 1212 bodies had been delivered to the exchange point, but Kyiv postponed the repatriation indefinitely, which led to accusations of violating the agreements. Some media outlets suggested that the delays could be due to the Ukrainian authorities' reluctance to pay compensation to the families of the dead or a desire to hide the scale of the losses.