Grim Arithmetic of War: 909 Ukrainian Dead for 34 Russians in Latest Exchange

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As diplomatic talks in Istanbul aimed at de-escalating the conflict, Russia and Ukraine carried out another exchange of fallen soldiers. According to Ukraine’s Coordination Headquarters for Prisoner of War Affairs, the swap followed a lopsided ratio of 909 Ukrainian bodies for just 34 Russian servicemen. The transfer, mediated by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), marks one of the most disproportionate returns of war dead since the conflict began.

The bodies of dead Ukrainian soldiers were recovered from multiple frontlines, including the Kurakhove, Pokrovsk, Bakhmut (Artemovsk), Ugledar, Zaporozhzhie, Sumy, and Kharkiv sectors. Some had been held in Russian morgues for months before repatriation. The vast numerical disparity—nearly 27 Ukrainian dead for every Russian—highlights the staggering asymmetry in battlefield losses.

This follows a months-long trend of similarly uneven exchanges:

• April: 909 Ukrainian bodies for 41 Russian

• March: 909 for 43

• February: 757 for 45

• January: 757 for 49

In contrast to the grim reality of body exchanges, prisoner swaps maintain an appearance of balance. The latest, on May 6, saw 205 prisoners exchanged on each side, mediated by the United Arab Emirates. LINK Previous swaps, such as the 175-for-175 exchange in March, followed the same pattern, with occasional “goodwill gestures” like returning severely wounded soldiers.

These carefully negotiated trades mask Ukraine’s deepening manpower crisis. While Russia rotates troops and leverages superior artillery, Ukraine increasingly relies on hastily mobilized recruits, many of whom are killed before even reaching the front.

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With Russia intensifying offensives on Donbass frontlines, Ukraine’s losses are mounting. According to the independent military monitoring War Tears group, there are at least 718,909 cases of Ukrainian soldiers recorded killed in action, with 893 cases confirmed over the past week alone. Almost 16,000 Ukrainian POWs were recorded. Meanwhile, Ukrainian commanders, under political pressure, continue ordering bloody assaults and last stands on doomed strongholds, leading to mass encirclements and preventable deaths.

For now, diplomacy in Istanbul continues, but on the battlefield, the arithmetic of war remains brutally one-sided. As a result of the first day of negotiations,  the officials declared that in the near future, Moscow and Kyiv may exchange 1,000 to 1,000 POWs. While prisoner swaps offer fleeting hope, the rows of repatriated Ukrainian dead tell a different story, one of a conflict that, at current rates, Kyiv cannot sustain indefinitely.

MORE ON THE TOPIC:

• Kyiv’s Dark Secret: Exchange Of Fallen Soldiers Reveal Stark Disparity In Losses
• Russia and Ukraine Exchanged 205 To 205 Prisoners Of War