The bodies of 66 fallen Ukrainian soldiers were returned to Ukraine, the Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of the Prisoners of War reported on Dec. 22.
The Geneva Conventions dictate that people who lost their lives during war are entitled to a dignified burial.
The bodies of Ukrainian soldiers will be transported to specialized state institutions for forensic examination and identification. Afterward, they will be handed over to their relatives for the funeral.
The Headquarters thanked the International Committee of the Red Cross and Jurg Eglin, the head of the ICRC delegation.
The retrieval was carried out in coordination with the Security Service of Ukraine, the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine, the Armed Forces, and the emergency services.
The bodies of around 2,000 soldiers have been repatriated to Ukraine in the last two years, according to the Headquarters.
In the previous transfer on Nov. 20, the Headquarters reported that the bodies of 94 fallen Ukrainian soldiers were returned in exchange for an undisclosed number of bodies of Russian soldiers.
Ukraine has not disclosed how many soldiers were killed in Russia’s full-scale invasion. Former Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar said in July last year that this information would remain secret until the end of martial law.
Daria Shulzhenko
(Updated: )
