The bodies of 540 defenders who died during the war were returned to Ukraine

So far, through the international representative office of the Red Cross, it has been possible to return the bodies of more than 540 fallen defenders.

This was reported by Oleh Kotenko, the Commissioner for Persons Disappeared Under Special Circumstances.

"Negotiations with the aggressor are difficult, but we have already managed to return 541 fallen defenders. 428 bodies were brought from Mariupol, of which more than 300 were defenders of Azovstal. We are returning the dead from the Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, Kherson, Kharkiv and Luhansk directions — from everywhere," said Kotenko.

He said that Ukraine is handing over to the Russian side the locations where there are dead defenders.

"They have to pick them up, and then we make exchanges. But the Russian Federation does not always want to go to the war zone, even though a regime of silence is announced. It is even difficult to arrange for the bodies of our boys to be taken our from TOT. Due to the huge loss of personnel, the Russians cannot cope with their dead," he said.

Kotenko also said that he is in constant communication with the relatives of missing or dead Ukrainian defenders.

"The Ministry of Reintegration has already held more than 20 meetings with relatives of the dead and missing. It is difficult to explain to a person whose relative died, why it is sometimes not possible to return his body for a long time," Kotenko added.