The bodies of 757 fallen defenders were repatriated to Ukraine, according to the Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War.

"The defenders who have returned 'on the shield' include those fallen on the Kurakhove, Pokrovsk, Bakhmut, Vuhledar, Luhansk, Zaporizhia axes, and from the morgues on the territory of Russia," it said on the Telegram channel on Friday.

The repatriation of the fallen defenders became possible due to joint efforts of the Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War, the Central Directorate for Civil and Military Cooperation of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU), the Joint Center of the Security Service of Ukraine, the Interior Ministry of Ukraine, the Verkhovna Rada Commissioner for Human Rights, the Secretariat of the Commissioner for Persons Missing under Special Circumstances, the State Emergency Service of Ukraine, and other defense and security agencies of Ukraine.

The Coordination Headquarters separately thanked the ICRC for its assistance, as well as the personnel of the AFU, which transports the repatriated fallen to certain specialized state institutions, organizes the transfer of the dead to representatives of law enforcement agencies in the system of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and forensic medical examination in the system of the Ministry of Health.

Investigators of law enforcement agencies together with expert institutions of the Ministry of Internal Affairs will establish the identity of the dead as soon as possible.

As reported, at the end of January 2024, the bodies of 757 fallen defenders were returned to Ukraine.