Russia has handed over the remains of 1,000 Ukrainian soldiers, including five who perished while being held by Russian forces, announced officials from Kyiv and Moscow on Tuesday.

According to Ukraine’s Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War, this transfer was part of agreements made during Russian-Ukrainian peace discussions that took place in Istanbul earlier this summer.

The agency reported that the deceased soldiers had fallen in the Donetsk, Luhansk, and Zaporizhzhia regions of southeastern Ukraine, as well as in the Kursk region of southwestern Russia, which Ukrainian troops had briefly occupied following an unexpected incursion the previous August.

Vladimir Medinsky, an adviser to the Kremlin and the chief negotiator for peace in Ukraine, also confirmed the transfer, noting that Russia had received 19 bodies as per the Istanbul agreements “just like a month ago.” A corresponding exchange of 1,000 for 19 had occurred on July 17.

The Ukrainian headquarters stated that five of the returned bodies were listed as severely injured and critically ill soldiers scheduled for exchange.

“The Russian side continues to procrastinate and does not meet its obligations,” the agency remarked in a statement via its Telegram channel.

During their meetings in Istanbul in June, Moscow and Kyiv agreed to a significant prisoner exchange and to return the bodies of 6,000 soldiers from each side, although they were unable to establish a ceasefire.

The repatriation of deceased soldiers and the exchange of prisoners have emerged as one of the few common grounds for cooperation between the conflicting parties since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

The Ukrainian headquarters noted that law enforcement officials and military specialists would collaborate to identify the newly repatriated remains.