Ukraine repatriates bodies of 261 fallen soldiers from Russia for identification procedures
The Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War, the Joint Center under Ukraine's Security Service, 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 Under Special Circumstances, the State Emergency Service, and other security and defense sector structures took part in organizing the process.
After the remains are returned, investigators and experts from specialized institutions will carry out identification. The bodies are being delivered to specialized state institutions, where they are handed over to law enforcement officers and forensic experts.
The Ukrainian side also thanked the International Committee of the Red Cross for its assistance in carrying out the repatriation.
Background
It is worth adding that the checks are being carried out because there have already been cases in which, in June 2025, Russia returned bodies to Ukraine in an extremely mutilated condition, while during recent repatriations, it also handed over the bodies of occupying troops together with fallen Ukrainians.
Experts and investigators identified the Russian invaders whose bodies Russia handed over to Ukraine during the repatriation of the dead. The family of one such occupying soldier had been searching for him after he disappeared in the Donetsk region.
Also, during the first repatriation of fallen bodies in 2026, Ukraine returned to the aggressor country the body of one of its service members, which the Russian side had previously handed over to Kyiv as the body of an allegedly Ukrainian defender.
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14 of August 2026
