Ukraine returns 1000 bodies of fallen defenders from Russia

on September 18, 1,000 bodies, which the Russian side claims belong to Ukrainian servicemen, were returned to Ukraine as part of repatriation measures. This was reported to by Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War.

In the near future, law enforcement investigators, together with the expert institutions of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, will conduct the necessary examinations and identify the repatriated bodies. The Russian side claims that these are dead Ukrainian soldiers.

According to Russian military officials, Moscow has returned 24 bodies of dead occupants.

The bodies were recovered thanks to the joint work of the Coordination Center, the Joint Center at the Security Service of Ukraine, the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Office of the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights, the Secretariat of the Commissioner for Persons Missing in Special Circumstances, the State Emergency Service of Ukraine, and other structures of the security and defense sector.

The International Committee of the Red Cross also assisted in the repatriation.

"Investigators of law enforcement agencies together with expert institutions of the Ministry of Internal Affairs will identify the victims as soon as possible," the Coordination Center said .

• As part of the Istanbul Agreements, Russia returned to Ukraine more than 6,000 bodies as of June 2025.
• All of them were believed to belong to Ukrainian servicemen, but on June 16, Interior Minister Klymenko reported,.

that Russia was handing over its dead citizens along with the bodies of Ukrainians.

• On June 18, Klymenko said that it would take at least, 13-14 months to identify the bodies that Russia handed over mixed with the remains of the occupiers.
• On August 19, the bodies of 1000 dead, , including those who died in Russian captivity, were returned to Ukraine