Russia returns bodies of 62 Ukraine soldiers after "difficult negotiations"

Agencies |Kyiv

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Ukraine said Tuesday that it had negotiated the return of dozens of Ukrainian soldiers' remains from Russia, including servicemen killed at the Olenivka prison, which Kyiv said Russian forces shelled.

"Another transfer took place: 62 fallen heroes were returned home," the Ukrainian ministry responsible for separatist-held territory said on social media.

"The negotiations were difficult but... it was possible to return our soldiers, in particular, soldiers from ... Olenivka," the ministry added.

Russia and Ukraine in July accused each other of carrying out deadly bombardments on the jail holding captured servicemen in Kremlin-controlled Olenivka, in eastern Ukraine's Donetsk region that Moscow has since annexed.

Kyiv denied targeting civilian infrastructure or prisoners of war. President Volodymyr Zelensky described what he called Russian shelling of the facility as a "war crime".

Russia said the Ukrainian prisoners held at the facility included members of the Azov battalion, who defended the Azovstal steel works as the last holdout in Ukraine's port city of Mariupol before surrendering to Moscow.