Ukraine Repatriates Bodies of 1,200 Soldiers Killed in War with Russia

The body of 1,212 soldiers killed in the war with Russia has been returned to Ukraine, Kyiv officials overseeing the exchange of prisoners of war have reported.

"As a result of the repatriation activities ..., the bodies of 1,212 fallen defenders have been returned to Ukraine," the prisoner exchange coordination committee said on the Telegram messaging app.

It released images from the location showing International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) personnel (in an undisclosed location) walking past a number of refrigerated trucks.

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Some trucks bore the emblems of On the Shield, a Ukrainian organization involved in the recovery and evacuation of military dead.

Kyiv and Moscow reached an agreement at their last round of negotiations last week on a large-scale transfer of corpses of war dead, however, details on implementation are still being negotiated.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on June 2 that Russia said they had 6,000 bodies that they wanted to send back to Ukraine. However, only about 15% of them had been identified.

"We already had a moment once when they transferred bodies to us and were also transferring bodies of Russian dead soldiers," Zelenskyy said at a briefing.

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Now, the 1,212 bodies will be handed over to specialists from Ukraine’s Interior Minister, law enforcement agencies and the Health Minister who will then identify the bodies as quickly as possible, said the prisoner exchange coordination body.

On Monday, Russia and Ukraine conducted an emotional homecoming for their prisoners of war under the age of 25, the first in a series of exchange of prisoners of war that could become the largest of the war resulting from Russia's invasion in 2022.

Meanwhile, fighting has continued unabated, with Russia reporting on Monday that its forces had gained control of new territory in eastern-central Ukraine in the Dnipropetrovsk region, and Kyiv reporting that Russia launched its largest drone attack to date in the war.

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