Ukraine,on Friday announced that it had received the bodies of 563 Ukrainian soldiers from Russian authorities. The majority of these fallen troops were reported to have died in combat, particularly in the heavily contested eastern Donetsk region.
The retrieval of soldiers’ remains, along with occasional prisoner swaps, stands as one of the few channels of communication and cooperation between the two nations. These exchanges are often coordinated through intermediaries and international organizations, aimed at upholding humanitarian concerns despite the broader hostilities.
The eastern Donetsk region, where most of these soldiers were killed, remains a significant battleground in the conflict. This area has seen some of the fiercest fighting, especially around cities like Bakhmut and Avdiivka, as both sides continue to vie for strategic control. The recovery of fallen soldiers’ bodies is not a only a matter of honoring the dead but also a painful reminder of the ongoing toll of the war.
“The bodies of 563 fallen Ukrainian defenders were returned to Ukraine,” the Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War said in a statement on social media.
The announcement represents one of the largest repatriations of killed Ukrainian servicemen since the beginning of the war.
The statement said that 320 of the remains were returned from the Donetsk region and that 89 of the soldiers had been killed near Bakhmut, a town captured by Russia in May last year after a costly battle.
Another 154 bodies were returned from morgues inside Russia, the statement added.
Neither Russia nor Ukraine has publicly disclosed the number of military personnel who have been killed in the fighting.
AFP