Ukraine returned the bodies of another 35 of its defenders, the Ministry for the Reintegration of the Temporarily Occupied Territories said. The exchange took place in the Zaporozhye region.

“In the Zaporozhye region, another operation was carried out to transfer the bodies of dead servicemen. Ukraine returned the bodies of 35 of its defenders,"

It is indicated that the operation was carried out with the cooperation of the Commissioner for Missing Persons under Special Circumstances, 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.

“The process of returning the bodies of the dead Ukrainian military continues. It takes place in accordance with the norms of the Geneva Convention,” the Ministry of Reintegration added..

In turn, the GUR MOU reported that the exchange of bodies took place according to the formula " Among them are 25 defenders of Mariupol.

“The fallen Ukrainian heroes will be buried with all military honors,” the message says..

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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..