Ukraine brings back bodies of 1,212 fallen defenders

The bodies of 1,212 fallen defenders have been brought back to Ukraine as a result of repatriation efforts.

Source: Ukraine’s Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War  

Details: Among those who were brought back are fallen defenders from the Kursk bridgehead and Kharkiv, Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson oblasts.

The return of fallen defenders was made possible through the joint efforts of the Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War and the joint centre under the Security Service of Ukraine, the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Office of the Parliamentary Human Rights Commissioner, the Secretariat of the Commissioner for Missing Persons under Special Circumstances, the State Emergency Service, and other bodies within Ukraine’s security and defence sector, with the support of the International Committee of the Red Cross.

Law enforcement investigators, together with expert institutions of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, will identify the deceased as quickly as possible.

Background:

• Following a meeting between the Ukrainian and Russian delegations in Istanbul on Monday 2 June, the parties have reached an agreement on the six thousands-for-six thousands exchange of bodies of fallen soldiers. Delegations also agreed to an all-for-all exchange of seriously wounded and young soldiers aged 18 to 25.
• President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that out of the 6,000 bodies of soldiers that Russia wants to hand over to Ukraine, only 15% have been identified.
• On Friday 6 June, Russia claimed that repatriation efforts had begun, later asserting that "Ukraine refused to retrieve the bodies of its citizens". Ukraine’s Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War emphasised that Russia was manipulating a sensitive issue, adding that preparations for the exchange were ongoing.

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