Kyiv on Friday said Russian authorities returned over 500 bodies of Ukrainian soldiers eliminated in battle, with many having died in the eastern Donetsk region.Russia and Ukraine have been exchanging bodies and detainees of war since the first months of the dispute with casualties estimated to be high on both sides.
As an outcome of repatriation activities, the bodies of 502 fallen defenders were returned to territory controlled by the government of Ukraine, Kyivs Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War said on social media.The center stated that 397 of the bodies were returned from the embattled Donetsk region, where battling is most intense.It stated 24 were returned from the eastern Luhansk region and 64 from the southern Zaporizhzhia location, while 17 were restored from morgues on Russian territory.
We are grateful for the help of the International Committee of the Red Cross, Kyivs center said.It said the bodies will be taken for forensic medical examination which together with the specialist institutions, the deceased will be recognized as soon as possible.
Russia, for its part, does not announce the return of its bodies.