As part of the latest repatriation efforts, the bodies and remains of 261 fallen defenders of Ukraine have been returned to the country.

The Security Service of Ukraine reported this.

The return of the fallen was the result of joint, coordinated work by the Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War under the Security Service of Ukraine, the Central Directorate for Civil-Military Cooperation of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the National Police, the State Emergency Service and other components of Ukraine’s security and defence sector.

The Security Service stressed that every such return is underpinned by complex interagency work. Its purpose is to bring fallen defenders home and to give their families the opportunity to say a dignified farewell to their loved ones.

In the near future, law enforcement investigators, together with forensic institutions of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, will carry out the necessary examinations.

The repatriated bodies are then to be identified.

The Security Service noted that, together with other state bodies, it is continuing work to return the bodies of Ukraine’s fallen defenders.