The Ukrainian government has announced that Russia has handed over on Friday the remains of 563 Ukrainian soldiers killed in combat, most of them on the Donetsk front, in the east of the country, in what is the largest repatriation operation of deceased soldiers since the beginning of the Russian invasion in February 2022.
The confirmation has come from the Coordination Center for the Treatment of Prisoners of War, whose report specifies that, of the deceased, 320 were returned from the Russian side of the Donetsk front, another 89 from the Bakhmut front (also in the Donetsk region, but identified as a separate combat theater) and the remaining 154 were in forensic centers on Russian territory.
“The Armed Forces of Ukraine will transfer the repatriated bodies and remains to designated state institutions. Representatives of the security forces and forensic medical experts will identify the victims,” the center said in a statement posted on its Telegram channel.
The last such return occurred on October 18, when Ukraine received the remains of 501 servicemen killed in combat.
