Ukraine returns bodies of another 99 fallen defenders

On April 12, Ukraine returned the bodies of 99 fallen soldiers, reported the Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War.

77 bodies of defenders who fought on the Donetsk axis, 20 fallen soldiers from the Zaporizhzhya axis and two defenders from the Kharkiv axis have been repatriated.

The repatriated bodies and remains of service members will be transported to state institutions. Representatives of law enforcement agencies and forensic medical experts will identify the victims. After identification, the bodies will be handed over to the families for burial, the Coordination Headquarters said.

On February 25, 2024, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced for the first time that around 31,000 Ukrainian military personnel had been killed since the beginning of the Russian full-scale invasion. He did not provide figures for wounded or missing soldiers.

Ukraine's Ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets stated that as of March 1, the remains of 2,800 fallen Ukrainian troops had been identified, and efforts to locate relatives of the deceased were ongoing.

On March 29, the bodies of 121 more Ukrainian soldiers who had died in combat were repatriated.