The Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War has announced the return of the bodies (remains) of 77 fallen defenders to the territory of Ukraine.

"Another repatriation procedure has been carried out to bring the fallen servicemen back to Ukraine: today, the bodies (remains) of 77 defenders of Ukraine were returned to the Ukrainian government-controlled territory," it said on the Telegram channel on Friday.

The preparations for the repatriation procedure took a long time, the agency said.

"The fallen defenders were returned due to cooperation between the Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War and the Unified Center under the SBU [Security Service of Ukraine], the Interior Ministry of Ukraine (the Secretariat of the Commissioner for Persons Missing in Special Circumstances), the Armed Forces of Ukraine (the Central Department for Civil and Military Cooperation), the Main Department of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine in Sumy region, the State Tax Service of Ukraine, and other defense and security agencies of Ukraine," the Coordination Headquarters said.

"A special thank you for cooperation to the International Committee of the Red Cross," it said.

According to the message, the Armed Forces of Ukraine will ensure the transportation of the repatriated bodies and remains to the specialized state agencies for handing them over to law enforcers and forensic experts to conduct the identification procedures.