Bodies of dead servicemen were exchanged in Zaporozhye region, Ukraine returned the bodies of 64 Azovstal defenders for a decent burial, the press service of the Ministry for Reintegration of the Temporarily Occupied Territories of Ukraine informs.

" The operation was carried out with the cooperation of the Ministry of Reintegration, the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense, the Security Service of Ukraine, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and other law enforcement agencies of Ukraine..

It is noted that the process of returning the bodies of the dead Ukrainian military continues.

Identification of the bodies of the dead defenders of Mariupol may take several months, since this will require a number of examinations for each deceased, said the former commander of the Azov regiment Maxim Zhorin.

He confirmed that during the two exchanges, it was possible to obtain the bodies of 220 defenders from Azovstal and the process continues. Absolutely all the bodies of the dead heroes from Mariupol are already in Kyiv, and now the difficult work of identifying the bodies begins.

As President Volodymyr Zelensky said, more than 2.5 thousand Ukrainian fighters from Azovstal are in Russian captivity, who were taken out of the city on the condition of their further exchange to the Ukrainian side. It was also previously reported about at least 177 civilians who surrendered along with the military during a special operation to evacuate the plant..