By Enyichukwu Enemanna
Ukraine said on Friday that it had received bodies of 563 soldiers from Russian authorities, mainly troops who lost their lives in combat in the eastern Donetsk region.
“The bodies of 563 fallen Ukrainian defenders were returned to Ukraine,” the Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War said in a statement on social media.
The announcement represents one of the largest repatriations of killed Ukrainian servicemen since the beginning of the war.
Among this figure, 320 bodies were returned from the Donetsk region while 89 of the soldiers were those killed near Bakhmut, a town captured by Russia in May last year after a costly battle.
Another 154 bodies were sent from morgues inside Russian cities.
Neither Russia nor Ukraine publicly disclosed how many military personnel have been killed since the outbreak of the war in 2022.
The exchange of prisoners and bodies of military personnel remains killed in the war has remained one of the few areas of cooperation between Moscow and Kyiv since Russia invaded in 2022.
It is not certain what becomes of the billions of dollar assistance Kyiv receives from Washington when the president-elect, Donald Trump assumes office in January.
He has criticised the scale of US military and financial support for Ukraine and has pledged to end the war with Russia quickly without saying how.
His position on Ukraine has raised concerns about the future of Washington’s support for Ukraine’s war with Russia under a Republican-controlled White House.
