Ukraine receives 252 bodies, which Russia claims are Ukrainian soldiers' remains

Photo source: Facebook / Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War

Ulyana Guz

Russia has returned the bodies of 252 people to Ukraine following repatriation efforts.

The Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War announced this on Telegram, Rubryka reports.

Russia claims the repatriated bodies belong to Ukrainian citizens, including military personnel.

^{Photo source: Facebook / Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War}

The return of the bodies resulted from joint efforts by:

• Staff of the Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War
• The Joint Center at Ukraine's Security Service
• The Armed Forces of Ukraine
• The Ministry of Internal Affairs
• The Office of the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights
• The Secretariat of the Commissioner for Persons Missing Under Special Circumstances
• The State Emergency Service of Ukraine and other agencies in Ukraine's security and defense sector

Law enforcement investigators, together with forensic institutions under the Ministry of Internal Affairs, will now conduct all necessary examinations and identify the repatriated bodies.

^{Photo source: Facebook / Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War}

The Coordination Headquarters also thanked the International Committee of the Red Cross for helping facilitate the repatriation.

"Special thanks go to the personnel of the Armed Forces of Ukraine who transport the repatriated bodies to designated specialized state institutions and arrange their transfer to law enforcement representatives within the Ministry of Internal Affairs and forensic specialists within the Ministry of Health," the headquarters said.

^{Photo source: Facebook / Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War}

Background

The previous repatriation took place on August 13, when Ukraine received the bodies of 261 people. Russia claimed at the time that they belonged to Ukrainian service members.

These checks are necessary because Russia returned severely mutilated bodies to Ukraine in June 2025 and, during recent repatriations, handed over the bodies of Russian soldiers alongside those of fallen Ukrainians.

Experts and investigators have identified Russian soldiers whose bodies Russia transferred to Ukraine during the repatriation of the dead. The family of one of these soldiers had been searching for him after he went missing in the Donetsk region.

During the first repatriation of bodies in 2026, Ukraine also returned to the aggressor country the body of one of its service members, which Russia had previously handed over to Kyiv, claiming it belonged to a Ukrainian defender.

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