Ukraine announced Friday that Russia had returned the corpses of 77 troops, days after the downing of a Russian military plane raised concerns about the future of such exchanges.
Moscow and Kyiv hurled new allegations over the crash of a transporter, which Russia claims was shot down near their border, killing 65 Ukrainian prisoners of war.
While Kyiv has not explicitly refuted the allegations, officials have appeared to wonder whether its POWs were on board.
The most recent body repatriation looked to be unrelated to the plane’s downing, which landed in a fireball in western Belgorod, Russia on Wednesday.
“Preparations for the repatriation had been underway for a long time,” a statement from Ukraine’s Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War read.
Hundreds of captive inmates have been released in scores of exchanges during the nearly two-year conflict.
But Russia’s assertions that Ukraine shot down a plane carrying Ukrainian detainees cast doubt on the future of such exchanges.
Disputed evidence
On Friday, Ukraine continued to dispute Russia’s explanation of how the Ilyushin 76 military transporter crashed.
The Kremlin rejected the idea of disclosing documentation confirming that scores of Ukrainian soldiers were slain.
“Investigators are working, I have nothing to add on this topic,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters when asked if Russia planned to reveal information on how Ukraine shot down the airliner and who was on board.
On Thursday, Russia’s Investigative Committee released video footage of what it claimed was the accident scene. It featured a small piece of aviation debris and blurry close-ups of a person.
A second video released Friday showed more debris, a forensics team closing up a body bag, and images of three identity documents that it claimed were from deceased victims.
Dmytro Lubinets, Ukraine’s human rights ombudsman, described Moscow’s recent release as “elements of an information propaganda campaign against Ukraine”.
Kyiv and Moscow have launched criminal investigations, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has called for an international probe.
On Wednesday, he accused Moscow of “playing with the lives” of Ukrainian troops and their families.
Kyiv has not confirmed or denied its participation in the accident, nor has it revealed if it was transporting captured Ukrainian soldiers.
It confirmed that a prisoner exchange will take place that day. However, it stated that Moscow had not informed Kyiv that the soldiers would be sent to the border by plane, as it has done in the past.
In a statement released following the incident, Ukraine’s army vowed to continue striking the Russian military in the border area where the plane was downed.