Russia Returns Bodies of 1,000 Soldiers to Ukraine

In one of the war’s few recurring acts of coordination, Moscow has returned the remains of 1,000 soldiers to Ukraine, according to a source in Russia’s negotiating delegation, while Kyiv handed back the bodies of 41 dead Russian troops.

The exchanges of war dead have continued even as the four-year conflict, unleashed by Russia’s full-scale invasion, has killed hundreds of thousands of soldiers and left little room for cooperation elsewhere.

Footage published by Russia’s state-run Ruptly video agency showed men wearing white overalls and blue gloves lifting white body bags from the rear of a truck before transferring them to another vehicle.

Observers bearing Red Cross insignia on their overalls also appeared in the video.

“According to the Russian side, the returned bodies belong to Ukrainian service members,” it said.

Kyiv has previously accused Moscow of including the bodies of Russian soldiers in transfers said to contain only Ukrainian war dead.

“Once the deceased have been identified, the bodies will be handed over to their families for a dignified burial,” the Coordination Headquarters said.

Last month, the Red Cross said it was helping facilitate the exchange of around 1,000 bodies every month, adding that “thousands and thousands” of the dead have yet to be identified.

Ukrainian infantrymen practice tactical techniques in Kharkiv

Separately, the European Union has demanded that Hungary “explain itself as a matter of urgency” after new media reports alleged Budapest passed EU information to Russia.

A consortium of Eastern European media outlets – The Insider, VSquare and Delfi – reported last month that Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto had given Moscow “direct-line” access to “strategic information on crucial issues”.

In the second part of that investigation, published yesterday, the outlets alleged that Szijjarto offered to “immediately” forward an EU document to Russia through the Hungarian embassy in Moscow concerning Ukraine’s accession talks with the bloc.

The allegations have provoked anger across Europe ahead of elections on Sunday in Hungary, where nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orban is campaigning for a fifth term.

The EU said the reports, based on leaked calls between the Hungarian and Russian foreign ministers, raised the “alarming possibility” that a member state was “actively working against the security and the interests of the EU and all its citizens”.

“This is therefore extremely concerning, and it is for the member state government in question to explain itself as a matter of urgency,” European Commission spokeswoman Paula Pinho told a press conference.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot, asked about the phone conversations, accused Hungary of “betrayal”.

“This is a betrayal of the solidarity required between the countries of the European Union,” Mr Barrot told broadcaster France Inter.

UK says it deployed military to deter Russian submarines from attack

Britain has sent military vessels to guard against any attacks on cables and pipelines by Russian ⁠submarines that spent more than a month in and around British waters earlier this year, Defence Minister John Healey said.

London accused Moscow of trying to exploit the distraction created by events in the Middle East to carry out the covert mission in the High North maritime region, an area that contains vital shipping lanes and critical infrastructure including undersea cables.

Mr Healey said British forces, working with allies including Norway, tracked and deterred threatening activity by the Russian vessels. He added that the submarines had since departed and that there were no signs of damage to underwater infrastructure.

Britain’s Defence Secretary John Healey delivers a statement on recent UK operational activity

Speaking publicly about the operation at a press conference, Mr Healey said the message was to make clear to Russian President Vladimir Putin that the activity had been ‌detected.

“To President Putin, I say ‘We see you. ⁠We see your activity over our cables and our pipelines, and you should know that any attempt to damage them will not be tolerated and will have serious consequences’,” he said.

“Our armed forces left them in no doubt that they were being monitored, that their movements were not covert, as President Putin planned, and that their attempted secret operation had been exposed.”

Russia’s embassy in London did not immediately respond to a request for comment. ‌Moscow has previously rejected allegations of involvement in a serious of incidents in which European countries’ cables were damaged.

Russian police raid independent Novaya Gazeta media outlet

Russian law enforcement officers have raided the offices of independent media outlet Novaya Gazeta, the newspaper said.

For years, Novaya Gazeta stood as Russia’s leading independent investigative publication and repeatedly came under pressure for its critical reporting and inquiries into human rights abuses.

The building housing the editorial office of the Novaya Gazeta independent media outlet

“At around 12pm, security officers in masks started carrying out investigative actions at the editorial office of Novaya Gazeta,” the outlet said on social media.

“We don’t know the reason. The outlet’s lawyers are not being allowed into the office, where some staff members are also present.”

An AFP reporter in Moscow saw two vans from Russia’s Investigative Committee parked in a courtyard outside the offices, while staff members stood inside the building’s foyer.

The paper’s former editor-in-chief Dmitry Muratov won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2021 for his “efforts to safeguard freedom of expression” while leading the outlet.

Several Novaya Gazeta journalists have been killed in murders widely viewed as retaliation.

Among them was Anna Politkovskaya, who spent years reporting on allegations of abuse by Russia’s military during its campaigns in Chechnya.

She was found dead in her apartment block on President Vladimir Putin’s birthday in October 2006.

The newspaper, once published several times a week, scaled back its operations inside Russia after the country imposed military censorship at the start of its offensive in Ukraine in 2022.