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Ukraine’s Repatriation Effort Brings Home Remains of Thousands of Fallen Soldiers
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As part of Ukraine's repatriation efforts, the remains of thousands of individuals, believed to be Ukrainian soldiers, have been returned to the country, according to the Coordinating Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War on April 9.
The repatriation involved the return of the remains of those believed to be Ukrainian military personnel, as claimed by Russian authorities. These remains are being examined by Ukrainian law enforcement agencies and expert institutions under the Ministry of Internal Affairs to confirm their identities.
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The headquarters confirmed that once the identities of the deceased are established, the bodies will be returned to their families for proper burial, ensuring that they are laid to rest with dignity.
This repatriation process has been made possible through collaboration between the Coordinating Headquarters, the Joint Center at the Security Service of Ukraine, the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Office of the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights, the Secretariat of the Commissioner for Persons Missing Under Special Circumstances, the State Emergency Service of Ukraine, and various other agencies within Ukraine's security and defense sector.
The headquarters expressed its gratitude for the support provided by the International Committee of the Red Cross in facilitating the repatriation efforts.
The headquarters also extended special thanks to the personnel of the Central Civil-Military Cooperation Department of the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces and the Joint Center for Civil-Military Cooperation, who have played a critical role in the transportation of the repatriated remains to designated state institutions, as well as organizing the handover to law enforcement authorities and judicial-medical experts for further examination and identification.
During the previous repatriation Ukrainian forensic team uncovered an unexploded grenade inside the body of a fallen soldier during an autopsy in Chernivtsi, a city in western Ukraine, according to Suspilne on March 11.
The body had been repatriated as part of an exchange of remains from soldiers killed during the ongoing war. Viktor Bachynskyi, head of the Chernivtsi Regional Bureau of Forensic Medical Examination, confirmed that the grenade had been discovered during a standard post-mortem examination.
The device had entered the body through the abdominal cavity, traveled through internal tissues, and became lodged near the right thigh without detonating.
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