Ukraine completes repatriation of 1245 more bodies of fallen heroes
16 June 15:25
Return of dignity: Ukraine completes repatriation of 1245 more bodies of fallen heroes
Today, on June 16, another 1,245 bodies, which the Russian side claims belong to Ukrainian citizens, including military personnel, were returned to Ukraine. This stage was the final one within the repatriation part of the agreements reached in Istanbul.
This was reported by the Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War, "Komersant Ukrainian" reports.
In total, Ukraine received 6057 bodies of the dead under the Istanbul agreements. Upon return, all the bodies will undergo the necessary examinations and identification procedures carried out by law enforcement investigators together with expert institutions of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
The Coordination Headquarters noted that the repatriation activities were made possible thanks to the coordinated work of the structures of the security and defense sector of Ukraine – in particular, the Security Service, the Armed Forces, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Office of the Ombudsman, and the State Emergency Service.
The headquarters also noted the personnel of the Central Department of the Civil Service of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and the Joint Center for Support of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, who organized the transportation of the bodies and their transfer to the specialized services within the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Ministry of Health.
According to Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko, Russia returns bodies to Ukraine in a highly mutilated state, and during the last repatriations it also handed over the bodies of the occupiers.
“This process is already complicated and lengthy. And Russia is deliberately complicating the identification process. The bodies are returned in a very mutilated state, parts of the bodies are in different bags. There are cases when the remains of one person are returned even during different stages of repatriation,” he says.
In addition, during recent repatriations, we have received bodies of Russian soldiers mixed with Ukrainians.
“This could have been done deliberately by the Russians to increase the number of bodies handed over and to overload our experts with work, adding to it cynical information pressure. Or it could be their usual negligent attitude toward their own people. In any case, we will identify these bodies as well,” the minister added.
