The bodies of 909 fallen defenders returned to Ukraine

Ukraine has repatriated the bodies of 909 fallen service members, returned as part of ongoing repatriation efforts, the Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War announced.

Photo: Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War

The repatriated bodies include military personnel who defended various fronts, including Kurakhove, Pokrovske, Bakhmut, Vuhledar, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, Sumy, and Kharkiv. Additionally, bodies previously stored in Russian morgues were returned.

The successful repatriation was a result of collaboration among several Ukrainian entities: the Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War, the Joint Centre at the SBU, the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Office of the Verkhovna Rada Commissioner for Human Rights, the Secretariat of the Commissioner for Missing Persons under Special Circumstances, the State Emergency Service, and other security and defense sector structures.

The Coordination Headquarters also extended gratitude to the International Committee of the Red Cross for their assistance.

Photo: Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War

Special appreciation was expressed to the military personnel responsible for transporting the bodies of the deceased to specialised state institutions and handing them over to law enforcement and forensic medical experts. Law enforcement, in conjunction with Interior Ministry experts, is tasked with identifying the deceased as quickly as possible.

This repatriation follows a similar effort in April 2025, when the bodies of 909 fallen military personnel were also returned to Ukrainian government-controlled territory.

ZMINA previously reported that a Unified Register for Body Identification could become operational in Ukraine as early as 2025. This project aims to establish a multidisciplinary team to process bodies received in severe condition, involving highly qualified experts to aid in identification due to the heavy workload on forensic medical institutions.