Ukraine’s President mentioned that Russia repatriated at least 20 of its personal lifeless soldiers in recent exchanges with Ukraine, describing it consequently of Moscow’s disorganisation in finishing up giant swaps of wounded POWs and stays of troops.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy mentioned that an Israeli citizen was among the many lifeless Ukraine had received in recent exchanges. He spoke to journalists on Friday however his feedback have been embargoed till Saturday (June 21, 2025). Officials didn’t disclose the identities of the bodies.
“They threw the corpses of their citizens at us. This is their attitude toward war, toward their soldiers. And this is already documented. Sometimes these bodies even have Russian passports,” he mentioned.
He mentioned the Russian aspect insisted the lifeless have been all Ukrainians.
Journalists have been proven a Russian passport and ID belonging to at least one of the 20 lifeless Russians. According to the doc, the person got here from the Moscow area.
The exchanges of the lifeless and wounded soldiers are the one tangible end result of direct peace talks in Istanbul. In June, Ukraine and Russia agreed to alternate the bodies of fallen soldiers in a 6,000-for-6,000 format in the course of the second spherical of negotiations. Ukraine was involved that the quantity was too excessive and that the edges didn’t have sufficient time for forensic examinations and checking the identities of the lifeless.
Mr. Zelenskyy mentioned he suspected Russia’s plan was to play together with peace talks to appease the U.S. and stave off extra sanctions however with out ending the struggle that Russian President Vladimir Putin believes he’s profitable.
He mentioned that as a result of of this, Ukraine could be “in a really difficult situation” of deciding whether or not to proceed the talks in Istanbul.
Mr. Zelenskyy mentioned Ukraine was in opposition to Iran buying nuclear weapons, as a result of of its army partnership with Russia, however stopped brief of expressing express assist for Israel’s strikes. He repeated that the brand new struggle in the Middle East will have an effect on Ukraine not directly.
“Iran gave the Russians everything to kill us. They gave them martyrs, they gave them missiles, and they gave them licenses. The fact that their production capacities have now become weaker is (a) positive for us. But at certain points it may already be too late,” he mentioned, additionally citing Russia’s army cooperation with North Korea.
Russia has modified Iran-made Shahed drones and has used them, usually lots of at a time, in barrages concentrating on Ukraine.
Mr. Zelenskyy mentioned 39 Russian firms have been concerned in the manufacturing of Oreshnik, an intermediate-range ballistic missile succesful of carrying a nuclear warhead. He mentioned 21 of them aren’t underneath sanctions. “And therefore it is absolutely incomprehensible why sanctions should not be imposed urgently,” he mentioned.
Russia attacked Ukraine with the missile in November, marking a critical escalation in the struggle and Russia’s capabilities.
Mr. Zelenskyy dispelled stories that Patriots air defence programs have been destroyed in recent Russian drone and missile barrages. He additionally mentioned Ukraine has began utilizing domestically produced interceptors to shoot down Shahed drones and is searching for financing from Germany to ramp up the weapon’s manufacturing.
He added he despatched indicators to Western companions asking them to surrender 0.25% of their GDP to assist Ukraine’s native defence business.
Mr. Zelenskyy mentioned it is probably he would attend a NATO summit later this week, however that he would make a remaining determination on Monday.
Though Zelenskyy didn’t meet Trump who had left early the Group of Seven summit in Canada final week, Ukraine’s Economy Minister Yulia Svyrydenko and the pinnacle of the president’s workplace, Andriy Yermak, gave U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent an inventory of weapons Ukraine is hoping to buy. “We will wait feedback,” Mr. Zelenskyy mentioned, including the package deal of weapons included Patriot programs.
The weapons package deal could be among the many matters Mr. Zelenskyy plans to debate with Trump in their subsequent assembly, he added, in addition to the problem of sanctions.
“Frankly, it seems to me that we need to talk about a new breath in the diplomatic track,” he mentioned. “We need greater certainty and greater pressure from the world on Putin.”
