More than 1000 bodies of fallen soldiers were repatriated to Ukraine: details of the operation.

According to ТСН: Today, 1003 bodies were returned to Ukraine, which, according to Russian information, belong to Ukrainian servicemen. This became possible thanks to repatriation measures.

The Coordination Headquarters for Handling Prisoners of War reported this.

Next steps

The next stage plans to conduct all necessary examinations and identifications of the repatriated bodies.

“Repatriation measures were successfully conducted as a result of the joint work of the Coordination Headquarters for Handling Prisoners of War, the Unified Center under the Security Service of Ukraine, the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine, the Office of the Commissioner of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine for Human Rights, the Secretariat of the Commissioner for Missing Persons under Special Circumstances, the State Emergency Service of Ukraine, and other structures of the Security and Defense Sector of Ukraine,” the message states.

The Coordination Headquarters also expressed gratitude to the International Committee of the Red Cross for its assistance.

Challenges in identification

Earlier, the Coordination Headquarters noted that the identification process of the deceased bodies is complicated and lengthy due to the poor condition of many bodies. An additional obstacle is the lack of information from the Russian side about the direction from which the bodies were repatriated, which further delays identification.

The Commissioner for Missing Persons under Special Circumstances, Arthur Dobroserdov, also shared information about the process of repatriating the bodies of servicemen who were considered missing.

The return of the bodies of fallen servicemen is an important stage in the process of their identification and honoring their memory. Despite the difficulties in identification, Ukrainian structures continue to work on resolving all issues arising in connection with this process, hoping for the support of international organizations.