Russia returns 500 dead soldiers to Ukraine as world leaders mull next steps
Russia has returned to Ukraine the bodies of 501 soldiers in what appears to be the biggest repatriation of war dead since Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia on Friday returned to Ukraine the bodies of 501 soldiers, Ukrainian authorities said, in what appeared to be the biggest repatriation of war dead since Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022.
Most of the soldiers were killed in action in the eastern Donetsk region of Ukraine, mostly around the city of Avdiivka that Russian forces captured in February after a long and grueling battle, Ukraine’s Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War said in a statement.
Law enforcement agencies and forensic experts will identify the victims, who will then be handed over to family members for burial, it said.
The war is believed to have killed tens of thousands of soldiers on each side, though there are no official or independently collated figures.
