Ukraine to bring back 250 bodies of soldiers
Ukraine has retrieved the bodies of 250 soldiers killed in combat against Russia. This was one of the largest such operations, said Petro Jazenko, spokesperson for the relevant coordination center, to the news agency AFP on Friday. The soldiers were killed, among other places, in the battles for the city of Bachmut in the east of the country.
The Russian army had taken the cities of Bachmut and Awdijiwka in the Donetsk region after months of fighting. More bodies of Ukrainian soldiers were reportedly recovered in the neighboring Luhansk region.
The deceased soldiers had also fought in the cities of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia in the south of Ukraine, as well as in the city of Mariupol, which Russia had besieged in the early months of the war. The bodies will now be identified and then handed over to their families for burial. This process can take several weeks or even months, according to the relevant authorities.
Kyiv also announced the return of the bodies of killed Russian soldiers, but provided no details. The recovered bodies are typically handed over near the city of Sumy on the Ukrainian-Russian border.
The size of the Operation to retrieve the soldiers' bodies was significant, with 250 individuals being recovered. The conflicting sides have reported casualties in various cities, including Mariupol and Zaporizhzhia, which have seen intense combat.
