Identification of the bodies of the fallen 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, the bodies of 220 defenders from Azovstal were obtained 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.

“The fact is that most of the bodies are in a terrible state and it is absolutely impossible to visually identify them.. I will say that it will not be soon, we will have to conduct complex examinations, examine DNA, and I think that it will take, perhaps, several months for us to establish the identity of each hero, ”said Zhorin.

He also said that almost the same number of bodies need to be returned, they are still in Mariupol and now negotiations are underway to further exchange and return them home..

“We must return absolutely all the bodies home and we will work on this,” the Azov resident added..

He clarified that among those who have already been exchanged, about a third are fighters of the Azov regiment, and the rest are representatives of other units that defended Mariupol - marines, police, SBU, border guards.

“Now you can tell by the uniform, by the chevrons, but it will take a lot of time to identify them,” Zhorin specified..

He assured that the negotiations would continue until absolutely all Ukrainian heroes who left Azovstal were taken from the city.. In particular, the representative of the regiment noted that their struggle in Mariupol became, among other things, a component of the fact that Russian troops retreated from Kyiv, Chernigov, Sumy, and could not capture Zaporozhye.

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According to President Volodymyr Zelensky, 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 with 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..

In Russia, information about the plans to exchange the Ukrainian military caused a wave of indignation and calls for aggressive actions against Ukrainians.. However, Deputy Defense Minister Anna Malyar noted that Russian statements regarding the defenders from Azovstal should be perceived as political and aimed at the domestic Russian consumer..