Ukraine's president said Russia repatriated at least 20 of its own dead soldiers in recent exchanges with Ukraine, describing it as a result of Moscow's disorganization in carrying out large swaps of wounded POWs and remains of troops.

Russia sent to Ukraine some of its dead troops in a prisoner and body exchange to hide Moscow's true battlefield losses, according to Volodymyr Zelensky. The Ukrainian president said that Vladimir Putin was using the return of war dead to obscure the scale of military losses from the Russian public.

Russia shows no signs it plans to wind down its war in Ukraine, with an estimated 695,000 troops deployed across an expanded front line and another 121,000 in strategic reserve, according to Ukraine’s commander-in-chief Oleksandr Syrskyi.