Ukraine has received the bodies of 261 people who, according to the Russian side, were Ukrainian servicemen, Ukraine’s Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War said on Aug. 13.
The remains were returned to Ukraine as part of repatriation efforts involving Ukrainian security, defense, and law enforcement agencies.
Ukrainian investigators and forensic experts will conduct the necessary procedures to establish the identities of those repatriated.
Identification of the fallen
The identification process will involve investigators from law enforcement agencies together with specialists from relevant expert institutions.
The Coordination Headquarters said the repatriation was made possible through joint work by the Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War, the Joint Center under the Security Service of Ukraine, the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the Interior Ministry, the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights, the Secretariat of the Commissioner for Missing Persons under Special Circumstances, the State Emergency Service, and other structures within Ukraine’s security and defense sector.
The International Committee of the Red Cross also assisted with the repatriation process.
The Ukrainian Armed Forces’ Joint Center for Civil-Military Cooperation will transport the repatriated remains to specialized state institutions and organize their transfer to law enforcement agencies and forensic medical examination facilities.
The Coordination Headquarters said representatives of the Armed Forces’ civil-military cooperation structures are also responsible for overall coordination of the process.
Prior repatriation efforts
Earlier in July, Ukraine repatriated 501 bodies that Russia claims belong to Ukrainian military personnel.
The Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War confirmed the repatriation, noting that law enforcement investigators and other representatives of expert institutions will now carry out all forensic measures necessary to identify the victims.
Russia has a record of occasionally sending back the remains of its own soldiers, according to United24Media. Ukrainian authorities reportedly believe this practice is most likely an attempt to avoid paying state compensation to the families of deceased Russian servicemen.
Investigators said they began conducting mandatory safety checks before doing any other identification work as of late June, due to the explosive devices being discovered multiple times in the bodies of repatriated Ukrainian servicemen sent back from Russia.