Bodies of 503 fallen defenders returned to Ukraine

The bodies of 503 Ukrainian soldiers who died defending their homeland from the invaders have been returned to Ukraine.

The Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War reported about this on December 20.

The bodies of the fallen soldiers were returned from the eastern and southern sectors and morgues on the territory of the Russian Federation.

In particular, the bodies of 403 fallen defenders were repatriated from the Donetsk sector. Also, 12 fallen soldiers were returned from the Luhansk sector.

Another 57 bodies were repatriated from the Zaporizhzhia sector. And 31 bodies were returned from morgues in Russia.

The representatives of the Ukrainian Armed Forces will transport the repatriated bodies and remains to designated state institutions.

After that, the law enforcement officials and forensic experts will identify the victims. After identification, the bodies of the Ukrainian defenders will be handed over to their families for a decent burial.

The fallen defenders were returned thanks to the cooperation of the Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War with the Joint Center of the Security Service of Ukraine, the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine, the Ombudsman’s Office, the Secretariat of the Commissioner for Persons Missing in Special Circumstances, the Armed Forces of Ukraine (Central Military Command), the State Emergency Service of Ukraine.

Special thanks go to the International Committee of the Red Cross for facilitating the return.

On November 29, the Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War reported that the bodies of 502 fallen soldiers had been returned to Ukraine.

On November 8, the bodies of 563 fallen Ukrainian defenders were returned. On October 18, the bodies of 501 fallen Ukrainian soldiers were returned.

On December 8, 2024, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi wrote on his Telegram page that 43,000 Ukrainian servicemen had died since the start of the full-scale war with Russia. These are the soldiers who died after February 24, 2022, in the confrontation with the Russian invaders.