Ukraine returns 58 bodies of its fallen soldiers home

Ukraine has had another repatriation event and returned its 58 deceased defenders, according to the Coordination Staff on the Handling of Prisoners of War.

"The Armed Forces of Ukraine will transport repatriated bodies and remains to designated state institutions to hand them over to law enforcement representatives and forensic experts to establish the identities of the deceased," the press service said, Rubryka reports.

After identification, the bodies of the servicemen will be handed over to their relatives for dignified burial.

The fallen defenders of Ukraine were returned thanks to the cooperation of employees of the Coordination Staff on the Handling of Prisoners of War with the Ukrainian security service's Unified Center, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, namely the Secretariat of the authorized person for persons missing under special circumstances, the Armed Forces, the State Emergency Service, and other representatives of Ukraine's security and defense sector.

On January 26, Ukraine returned the bodies (remains) of its 77 fallen servicemen who gave their lives defending the freedom and independence of their country to government-controlled territory.

Prisoner exchange

Since the start of the full-scale war, Ukraine and Russia have conducted a series of exchanges of prisoners of war. Since August 2023, Moscow has frozen the exchange of prisoners with Ukraine.

However, the largest exchange of prisoners since the full-scale invasion took place on January 3. Ukraine managed to return 230 defenders home.

On January 24, Ukraine and Russia were supposed to conduct the 50th exchange of prisoners, but it was disrupted due to the crash of an Il-76 plane near Belgorod.

The Russians claimed that dozens of Ukrainian prisoners were allegedly on board the plane. However, Ukraine does not confirm this.

According to the Ukrainian Defense Intelligence, the disrupted exchange was supposed to be one of the largest during the war.