Ukraine said Friday that Russia had returned the bodies of 77 soldiers, days after a Russian military transport plane carrying 65 troops crashed near the two countries’ border.

Moscow and Kyiv traded fresh accusations over the plane that Russia says was shot down by Ukraine forces and killing 65 Ukrainian prisoners of war aboard as well as its crew members and escorts.

While Kyiv has not denied the claims outright, officials have appeared to question whether its POWs were on board.

The latest repatriation of bodies appeared unrelated to the downing of the plane, which crashed in a fireball in Russia’s western Belgorod region on Wednesday.

“Preparations for the repatriation had been underway for a long time,” Ukraine’s Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War said in a statement.

Hundreds of captured prisoners have been freed in dozens of exchanges throughout the nearly two-year war.

But Russia’s claims that Ukraine shot down a plane ferrying Ukrainian detainees has thrown doubts on the future of such exchanges.

WITH AFP