Bodies of 1,212 fallen defenders returned to Ukraine
Ukraine repatriated the bodies of 1,212 fallen soldiers killed in the war with Russia, the Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War reported on Wednesday.
The soldiers’ bodies were recovered from Kursk, Kharkiv, Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson oblasts.
They will be sent to designated state forensic institutions for judicial-medical examinations to identify the deceased as quickly as possible, according to the Coordination Headquarters.
The repatriation follows agreements reached during talks in Istanbul, which also facilitated two phases of prisoner exchanges.
On June 9, Ukraine brought back a group of prisoners aged 18 to 25, followed by severely wounded and ill soldiers on June 10.
During the first round of Istanbul talks on May 16, Ukraine and Russia agreed to a “thousand-for-thousand” prisoner swap, conducted in three stages from May 23 to 25.
Since March 2022, Ukraine has secured the release of 5,757 citizens through exchanges and 536 others outside such deals.
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