Grave of a fallen Ukrainian soldier decorated with heart shaped balloons on Valentine's Day at the Lychakiv Military Cemetery in Lviv, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Image: YURIY DYACHYSHYN / AFP
Kyiv said Friday it had received the bodies of hundreds of Ukrainian troops killed in battle with Russian forces, in one of the largest such repatriations since Russia invaded.
The exchange of prisoners and return of their remains is one of the few areas of cooperation between Moscow and Kyiv since the Kremlin sent troops to Ukraine in February 2022.
The repatriation announced is one of the largest in months and shows the high cost and intensity of fighting ahead of the war's three-year anniversary.
"As a result of the repatriation activities, the bodies of 757 fallen Ukrainian defenders were returned to Ukraine," the Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War, a government agency announced.
It said those returned had died fighting in the eastern Donetsk region, which the Kremlin claims is part of Russian territory and where fighting between Kyiv and Moscow is fiercest.
AFP