Russia and Ukraine exchanged bodies of their war dead on Thursday, October 22, with Moscow handing over 252 corpses and receiving 25 bodies in the swap, Belarusian state news agency Belta reported, according to Reuters.

Source: Reuters via Devdiscourse (Belta report)

A second Reuters report the same day, covering the overnight fighting, confirmed the same exchange figures — 252 bodies handed over by Moscow and 25 by Kyiv — and noted that such exchanges of war dead have accompanied moves towards talks in the past.

Source: Reuters via Devdiscourse

The exchange came even as fighting continued. Reuters reported that Russia pounded Kyiv with ballistic missiles overnight while Ukraine sent hundreds of drones towards Moscow, despite Russia saying on Wednesday it was ready in principle to resume US-mediated talks with Ukraine next month after President Vladimir Putin hosted US envoy Steve Witkoff in St Petersburg. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said he hoped negotiations — the first since February — would take place early in November, Reuters reported.

For families on both sides, exchanges like this one are often the only way to receive and bury their dead. Awaaz Punjab is reporting the figures exactly as Belta stated them via Reuters; neither side's wider claims about the fighting are presented here as settled fact.