Ukraine returned the bodies of 140 servicemembers who died in the war in Ukraine, the Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War reported on Telegram on 26 April.
Ukraine and Russia have carried out some prisoner exchanges since the start of the full-scale war. Since August 2023, the Russian Federation has frozen the exchange of prisoners with Ukraine.
At the beginning of 2024, Ukraine brought home 230 defenders, the largest prisoner exchange.
The Pope called on Russia and Ukraine to exchange prisoners of war according to the “all for all” formula. Ukraine has indicated it is ready for such a step, but Russia is ignoring the initiative.
According to the Coordination headquarters, Ukraine returned 112 bodies of defenders who fought in the Donetsk frontline direction, 20 fallen soldiers in the Luhansk direction, five from the Sumy direction, two from the Zaporizhzhia direction, and one from the Kherson direction.
The bodies of the fallen soldiers will first be handed over to law enforcement agencies and forensic medical experts. This is necessary to establish the identities of the deceased.
The Coordination Headquarters returned the bodies of the military personnel for the Treatment of Prisoners of War, the SBU, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the State Emergency Service, and representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross.
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