Bodies Of 58 Soldiers Returned From Russian-Controlled Territory: Ukraine

Ukraine said Friday it had brought back the bodies of nearly 60 soldiers who died fighting against the Russian invasion.

"Another repatriation took place, as a result of which 58 fallen defenders were returned to Ukraine" from Russian-controlled territory, the coordination headquarters for prisoners of war said.

It published photos of white trucks with the Red Cross insignia on the windshield.

"Special thanks for the assistance of the International Committee of the Red Cross," the post added.

There have been regular exchanges of prisoners and repatriations of bodies between the two sides following Russia's invasion in 2022.

At the end of January Ukraine said it had recovered the bodies of 77 Ukrainian soldiers.

The January repatriation took place shortly after the crash of a Russian military plane which, according to Moscow, had been carrying Ukrainian prisoners of war and was shot down by Kyiv.

Ukraine has questioned whether Ukrainian soldiers were actually on board and said Moscow never told it in advance that POWs would be flown near the border.

Both repatriations of bodies appeared unrelated to the plane crash.

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