The remains of 757 Ukrainian soldiers killed in fighting have been returned from Russia to Ukraine, Kyiv said today.
The exchange of military and prisoner-of-war combatant remains is one of the few areas of cooperation between Moscow and Kyiv since the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
“The bodies of 757 fallen Ukrainian defenders have been returned to Ukraine,” the Coordinating Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War said in a statement on the Telegram app.
Some of the bodies returned from the eastern regions of Donetsk, where the fiercest fighting is taking place, particularly around the mining town of Pokrovsk.
Last January, Ukraine also announced that it had received the bodies of 757 of its fallen soldiers. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky claimed in early February that 45,100 of his soldiers had been killed and some 370,000 wounded.
Russia is not disclosing its casualties in Ukraine. The independent website Mediazona and the BBC’s Russian service say they have so far identified about 91,000 Russian servicemen killed by drawing on open sources.
Ask me anything
Explore related questions