Ukraine receives another 1200 bodies from Russia; Putin says Iran military strikes are ‘atrocities’
Another transfer of 1200 bodies from Russia to Ukraine has been made as part of an exchange agreement struck in Istanbul talks earlier this month. Follow the updates.
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Another transfer of 1200 bodies from Russia to Ukraine has been made as part of an exchange agreement struck in Istanbul talks earlier this month, Ukrainian officials have revealed.
“Another 1200 bodies which the Russian side claims belong to Ukrainian citizens, including military personnel, were returned to Ukraine,” Kyiv’s headquarters for the treatment of prisoners of war wrote on social media.
“In total, 4812 bodies have been returned this week,” Ukrainian Defence Minister Rustem Umerov said on Facebook.
“I am grateful to everyone involved in this humanitarian mission.”
Ukraine has not said whether it has transferred any bodies to the Russian side.
The two sides agreed a large-scale exchange of prisoners and bodies of killed soldiers during their latest round of direct talks in Istanbul on June 2.
Both Russia and Ukraine typically do not disclose their military losses.
In a rare public estimate, President Volodymyr Zelensky told US news outlet NBC earlier this year that more than 46,000 Ukrainian soldiers have been killed and some 380,000 wounded.
Russia has not announced its military deaths since September 2022, when it said fewer than 6000 soldiers had been killed – a figure believed to be vastly under-represented.
Several independent investigations using open sources, such as the publication of death announcements by local officials and family members, have reported massive death tolls for Moscow’s army.
Russian website Mediazona and the BBC’s Russian service said they had identified the names of some 111,000 killed Russian soldiers.
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‘UNPROVOKED’: RUSSIA SLAMS IRAN STRIKES, PUTIN CALLS NETANYAHU
Russia has slammed Israeli strikes on Moscow’s ally Iran as “unacceptable” and “unprovoked”.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has spoken to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian after Israel hit Iran in a series of strikes.
Mr Putin told Iran’s president over the phone on Saturday that Moscow condemned Israeli actions against Tehran and, in a separate phone conversation told Israel’s prime minister that only diplomacy could resolve issues around Iran’s nuclear program.
A Kremlin statement said Mr Putin told President Pezeshkian that Russia “condemns the actions of Israel taken in violation of the UN Charter” and expressed condolences for those killed.
The statement said Mr Putin, in his conversation with Mr Netanyahu, “stressed the importance of a return to the process of talks and resolution of all issues concerning Iran’s nuclear program strictly through political and diplomatic means”.
The statement added Russia would remain in close contact with both Iran and Israel.
Earlier Russian statements said the Israeli strikes on Iran were unprovoked and accused Israel of wrecking diplomatic efforts to reach a deal to allay Western concerns about Tehran’s nuclear program.
Initial reports suggested the Bushehr nuclear power plant, which Russia built, had not been hit.
“Russia is concerned and condemns the sharp escalation in tensions between Israel and Iran,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told state media.
Russia and Iran have deepened their military ties amid Moscow’s offensive on Ukraine with the leaders signing a 20-year strategic partnership pact in January.
Russia has also repeatedly offered to help the US and Iran reach a deal on Tehran’s nuclear program.
But Moscow remains wary of being drawn into a conflict in the Middle East — despite supplying Iran with weapons and buying arms in return.
Earlier, Russia’s Foreign Ministry condemned Israel’s “unprovoked military strikes against a sovereign UN member state, its citizens, peaceful cities and nuclear energy infrastructure” adding the actions were “categorically unacceptable” and calling the strikes “atrocities”.
The statement also accused the West of whipping up anti-Iranian “hysteria”.
Top Russian officials, including Putin, have also condemned Israel’s actions in Gaza, though has so far managed to maintain working relations with Israel.
The Kremlin earlier this week defended Iran’s right to develop a “peaceful” nuclear energy program.
US ‘MORALLY RESPONSIBLE’ FOR CIVILIAN DEATHS: UKRAINE
Ukraine says US President Donald Trump’s foreshadowed aid cuts to Kyiv are playing right into the hands of an emboldened Russia who has significantly escalated its drone attacks with civilians – including little children – paying the horrific price.
Oleksandr Merezhko, head of Ukraine’s parliamentary foreign affairs committee, said the cuts would be devastating to the war effort.
“Such a reduction will lead to more casualties on the Ukrainian side, including casualties among (the) civilian population,” he told Newsweek.
“Anyone in the US who is acting in support of the reduction of the military aid to Ukraine becomes morally responsible for the increased casualties among civilians.”
Earlier this week, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky claimed the US diverted 20,000 anti-drone missiles earmarked for Kyiv to US forces stationed in the Middle East.
Recovery efforts are currently underway in Kharkiv following last night’s Russian Shahed drone strike. The attack hit ordinary residential buildings. As of now, 64 people have been reported injured, including 9 children. Tragically, three people were killed. My condolences to… pic.twitter.com/uOVJ4f1UKK
— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир ЗеленÑький (@ZelenskyyUa) June 11, 2025
Early Thursday AEST, Mr Zelensky doubled down on his requests for American assistance.
“Russia deserves increased pressure, and it proves with every hit on ordinary life that the current pressure is not enough. And we must not be afraid or postpone new decisions that could make things more difficult for Russia,” Mr Zelensky said.
“Without this, they will not engage in genuine diplomacy. And this depends primarily on the United States and other world leaders. Everyone who has called for an end to the killings and for diplomacy must act.”
Fresh Russian strikes on Ukraine’s northeastern city of Kharkiv killed three people and wounded 60 others, including children, on Wednesday, authorities said, as Moscow pushed ahead with attacks after rejecting an unconditional ceasefire.
Ukraine said it had received the bodies of more than 1,200 soldiers, handed over by Moscow, part of a repatriation deal the two sides agreed at talks last week.
Russia has fired record numbers of drones and missiles at Ukraine over recent weeks, escalating three years of daily bombardments as it outlines hard line demands – rejected by Kyiv as “ultimatums” – to halt its three-year invasion.
UKRAINE ON ‘IRREVERSIBLE’ PATH TO JOIN NATO
NATO Secretary-general Mark Rutte has confirmed the intention to admit Ukraine still exists despite the objections of allies including America.
Mr Rutte spoke at Chatham House in London ahead of the upcoming June 24 NATO Summit at The Hague in the Netherlands.
“The irreversible path of Ukraine into NATO is there, and it is my assumption, it is still there after the Summit,” Mr Rutte said in response to a question from a journalist.
“Whether it is again in the communique or not, I think that’s not relevant, because all the language we previously agreed on is there until we decide it is not any longer there.”
Mr Rutte said a lack of presence on the NATO Summit agenda, which is focused heavily on spending and production, did not signal the alliance had turned its back on Kyiv.
“Of course, there will be Ukraine in the communique, no doubt, but don’t expect endless paragraphs of restating what we already said in the past. That’s all there, and it will stay there,” Mr Rutte said.
The NATO chief did acknowledge the objections, however.
“But not only the US has come out for a long time against Ukraine joining NATO,” he said.
“There have been other Allies too, take Hungary, take Slovakia, and others who have said we are against that.”
The speech came as Russia launched fresh drone and missile attacks on the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, and port city of Odessa early on Tuesday local time, killing three people and hitting a maternity hospital, Ukrainian officials said.
Moscow has escalated its bombardments of Ukraine and Kyiv has retaliated with strikes deep inside Russian territory.
The barrage also damaged UNESCO world heritage site Saint Sophia Cathedral.
Ukrainian Culture Minister Mykola Tochytskyi condemned Russia targeting the holy site.
“The enemy struck at the very heart of our identity again,” Mr Tochytskyi wrote on Facebook adding the cathedral was “the soul of all Ukraine”.
MOSCOW TAKES FIERY RETRIBUTION
Moscow fired a record 479 drones at Ukraine, including on the western region of Rivne that has been largely spared from attacks, Kyiv said also claiming an attack on a Russian factory hundreds of miles east of Moscow.
Russia has escalated its attacks across Ukraine in recent weeks, which Kyiv says demonstrate that the Kremlin has no intention of stopping its more than three-year invasion and is not serious about peace talks.
Moscow said on Monday local time that its strikes are continued retaliation for a bold Ukrainian attack on its bomber planes parked deep inside Russia, including in Siberia, that infuriated the Kremlin.
The overnight Russian attacks caused damage in several Ukrainian regions.
There were no reports of people killed or mass casualties.
“Enemy air strikes were recorded in 10 spots,” the Ukrainian air force said.
The mayor of the western city of Rivne, Oleksandr Tretyak, called it “the largest attack” on the region since the start of the war.
Regional governor Oleksandr Koval said 70 buildings – including private houses and a nursery – were damaged.
Russia said it had targeted an airfield near the village of Dubno in the Rivne region.
“This is one of the retaliatory strikes against terrorist attacks by the Kyiv regime on Russian military airfields,” its defence ministry said.
TEARS AS RUSSIAN AND UKRAINIAN POWS RETURN HOME
Russia and Ukraine on Monday local time (early Tuesday AEST) swapped a first group of captured soldiers – part of an agreement reached during peace talks that appeared to be in doubt over the weekend.
The deal to exchange prisoners of war and repatriate the bodies of killed fighters was the only concrete agreement reached at the talks, which have failed to lead to a breakthrough towards ending the three-year war.
“Today an exchange began, which will continue in several stages over the coming days,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on social media.
He posted images of soldiers draped in Ukrainian flags, cheering and hugging.
“Among those we are bringing back now are the wounded, the severely wounded, and those under the age of 25,” he added.
Russia’s defence ministry also confirmed the swap was part of “agreements reached on 2 June in Istanbul”.
Neither side said how many prisoners were released.
After the talks in Istanbul, both said it would involve more than 1,000 captured soldiers, making it the largest exchange of the three-year war.
The swap itself had appeared in jeopardy over the weekend, when Moscow and Kyiv traded accusations of delaying and thwarting the planned exchange.
Zelensky accused Russia on Sunday of playing a “dirty, political game” and of not sticking to the agreed parameters – to free all captured soldiers that are sick, wounded or under the age of 25.
Russia said Kyiv was refusing to take back bodies of dead soldiers, 1,200 of which it said were waiting in refrigerated trucks near the border.
RUSSIA’S BOLD TERRITORIAL ESCALATION BEGINS
Russia said it was pushing into Ukraine’s eastern Dnipropetrovsk region for the first time in its three-year offensive, a significant territorial escalation.
Moscow claims to have annexed five regions of Ukraine, but has not made a formal claim over Dnipropetrovsk.
The defence ministry said forces from a tank unit had “reached the western border of the Donetsk People’s Republic and are continuing to develop an offensive in the Dnipropetrovsk region”.
The advance of Russian forces into yet another region of Ukraine is both a symbolic and strategic blow to Kyiv’s forces after months of setbacks on the battlefield.
There was no immediate response from Ukraine to Russia’s statement.
In more than a decade of conflict with Kremlin-backed separatists and the Russian army, Ukraine has never had to fight on the territory of the central region until now.
Dnipropetrovsk is an important mining and industrial hub for Ukraine and deeper Russian advances into the region could have a serious knock-on effect for Kyiv’s struggling military and economy.
It was estimated to have a population of around three million people before Russia launched its offensive. Around one million people lived in the regional capital, Dnipro.
Ukrainian military personnel previously said that Russia could advance relatively quickly in the largely flat region, given there are fewer natural obstacles or villages that could be used as defensive positions by Kyiv’s forces.
‘DIRTY, POLITICAL GAME’: ROW OVER POW SWAP
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky accused Russia of playing a “dirty, political” game over a planned prisoner swap supposed to start “next week”, after the two sides accused each other of delaying and thwarting an exchange agreed at peace talks in Istanbul.
“The Russian side, as usual, is trying to play a dirty, political, information game,” Mr Zelensky said in his evening address, adding that if Russia fails to comply with the deal to release more than 1000 captured soldiers, it “will cast great doubt” on diplomatic efforts to end the three-year war.
Mr Zelensky said Russia has not yet provided a list of prisoners to be exchanged despite an agreement reached during the talks in Turkey.
Earlier the same day, Russia’s Lieutenant General Alexander Zorin told Russian state media they had already delivered the first lot of 1212 Ukrainian bodies to the exchange site and the ball was in Ukraine’s court.
Ukraine and Russia on June 2 agreed to a fresh exchange of POWs. They also agreed to take back the bodies of some 6000 killed soldiers.
– with AFP
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