Photo: SBU
Ukraine has repatriated the bodies of 252 fallen Ukrainian service members as part of the latest repatriation operation, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) reported.
The return was made possible through cooperation among several government agencies, including the Joint Center for Coordination of Search and Release of Prisoners of War, the Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War, and the Ukrainian Armed Forces General Staff’s Civil-Military Cooperation Directorate.
The Interior Ministry, National Police, State Emergency Service and other components of Ukraine’s security and defense sector also participated in the operation.
Identification and forensic examinations
Law enforcement investigators, working with forensic experts from the Interior Ministry, will conduct the necessary examinations to identify the repatriated remains.
Once identification procedures are complete, the fallen service members will be returned to their families for burial with full military honors.
Several large-scale repatriation operations have taken place since the beginning of 2026. Ukraine received the bodies of 1,000 people on April 9, 528 on May 16, and another 522 on June 18, most of them members of Ukraine’s security and defense forces.
