Fighting has raged in Ukraine over the past week, while global support for Russia and Ukraine has also shifted.
Moscow delivered on Friday the bodies of 501 soldiers back to Kyiv, Ukrainian authorities reported, marking what appears to be the biggest repatriation of war dead since Russia’s full-scale invasion began in February 2022.
Most of the soldiers were killed in action in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, mainly around the city of Avdiivka that Russian forces captured in February after a long and grueling battle, Ukraine’s Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War said in a statement.
Law enforcement agencies and forensic experts will identify the victims, who will then be handed over to family members for burial, it said.
It is estimated that tens of thousands of soldiers on each side died in the war, but the government and no other independent source have announced the exact numbers.
This week, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy unveiled some of his so-called ‘victory plans,’ which he said will push Russia to discuss a withdrawal from Ukraine.
That’s the proposal in discussions with Ukraine’s Western partners, whose assistance is necessary for Kyiv to counter its more powerful neighbor.
A significant component would be an official invitation into NATO, which Western supporters have been unwilling to grant until after the war.
