Ukraine returns bodies of 501 fallen soldiers

The Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War reports.

In particular, 382 bodies of fallen defenders killed in the Avdiivka sector, 56 fallen soldiers from the Bakhmut sector, 45 bodies of defenders from the Marinka sector, and six bodies of fallen defenders from the Vuhledar sector were returned.

In addition, four fallen soldiers in the Zaporizhzhia sector, seven fallen defenders fighting in the Luhansk sector were brought home, and one fallen soldier was returned from a morgue in the Russian Federation.

The Ukrainian Armed Forces will transport the repatriated bodies to designated state institutions. Law enforcement officers and forensic experts will identify the victims. After that, the fallen defenders will be handed over to their families for a respectful burial.

The defenders were returned thanks to the cooperation of the Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War with the Joint Centre of the Security Service of Ukraine, the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine, the Office of the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights, the Secretariat of the Commissioner for Persons Missing in Special Circumstances, the Central Military Police, the State Emergency Service and other representatives of the security and defense sector of Ukraine, as well as with the assistance of the International Committee of the Red Cross.

• In June, Ukraine managed to return 254 fallen members of the Defense Forces.