On June 13, 2025, at the funeral of her husband, Ukrainian soldier Dmytro Shapovalov, who had been returned from Russia, his wife Olena collapsed in tears in front of the coffin.

  The body of her husband, Ukrainian soldier Dmytro Shapovalov, who was returned from Russia, was laid to rest in a coffin, and his wife, Olena, collapsed in tears before it. The funeral took place on June 13, 2025, in the village of Yosypivka, Vinnytsia Oblast, Ukraine.Ukrainian military personnel carried the coffin of Dmytro Shapovalov, and a funeral ceremony was held at a church in the village of Yosypivka, Vinnytsia Oblast, Ukraine. 

   Ukraine announced on June 13, 2025, that it had repatriated additional bodies of soldiers killed in action, in accordance with an agreement reached during peace talks in Istanbul between delegations from Russia and Ukraine.The Ukrainian War Prisoners Treatment Coordination Headquarters revealed that Russia had returned 1,200 bodies. The handover was carried out with the cooperation of the Ukrainian military, the country's security agency, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and other government agencies. Forensic experts will now work to identify the bodies.

     This repatriation marks the largest-scale return of bodies since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine over three years ago. Earlier in mid-June, Russia returned 1,212 bodies of Ukrainian soldiers, while Ukraine returned 27 bodies of Russian military personnel. Russia and Ukraine also exchanged prisoners of war, including those seriously injured or ill, on June 13.

   The agreement to exchange prisoners of war and the bodies of fallen soldiers was the only concrete outcome of talks held in Istanbul on June 2. During the talks in Istanbul, Turkey, Russian and Ukrainian delegations agreed to hold direct peace talks on June 5, 2025. During discussions on a ceasefire, Russian forces launched a barrage of drones and missiles toward Ukraine for several days.On June 2, approximately 500 drones were recorded firing artillery, and on June 3, 315 drones and seven missiles were fired in a single night.Following the series of shocking attacks, hopes for an end to the three-year war were low. A memorandum outlining the terms of a ceasefire, including the exchange of prisoners and the bodies of fallen soldiers, was signed. However, the inclusion of clauses on non-starters makes the likelihood of an immediate ceasefire low.

Warning: Olena cries at the coffin of her husband, Dmytro Shapovalov, a Ukrainian serviceman, during his funeral ceremony in Yosypivka village, Vinnytsia region, Ukraine, on Friday, June 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)