Ukraine recovers bodies of 121 Ukrainian soldiers from Russian captivity

Ukraine has repatriated 121 bodies of deceased Ukrainian soldiers as part of an exchange with Russia, according to the Coordination Headquarters for Dealing with Prisoners of War.

The returned troops include 12 bodies of soldiers who fought on the Luhansk front, 107 fallen soldiers from the Donetsk front, and two defenders from the Zaporizhzhia front, Rubryka reports.

The Armed Forces of Ukraine will transport the repatriated bodies and remains to designated state institutions, where representatives of law enforcement agencies and forensic experts will identify the deceased individuals.

After the identification process, the bodies of the fallen service members will be handed over to their families for burial.

The repatriation was made possible through the collaboration of staff members from the Joint Center of Ukraine's Security Service, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the State Emergency Service, and other Ukrainian security and defense representatives.

The headquarters also thanked the International Committee of the Red Cross for their assistance.

Earlier, on March 15, Ukraine brought back home the bodies of another 100 deceased soldiers as part of a scheduled repatriation effort.

Currently, over 2,800 fragments and bodies of defenders have been identified in Ukraine.

Prisoner exchange

Ukraine and Russia have conducted a series of prisoner exchanges since the start of the full-scale war. Moscow froze the exchange of prisoners with Ukraine in August 2023.

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

On January 24, Ukraine and Russia were supposed to conduct the 50th prisoner exchange, but it was canceled 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, which Ukraine did not confirm.

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

On February 8, another 100 soldiers returned to Ukraine from Russian captivity, including border guards, National Guard soldiers, and the military of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.