We should know in a month or two whether "Il-76 bodies" are Ukrainian POWs – Ukrainian Human Rights Commissioner

It may take up to two months to conduct a forensic examination of bodies which Russia has handed over and claims are the remains of Ukrainian prisoners of war who were killed when an Il-76 military plane crashed in January 2024.

Source: Dmytro Lubinets, Ukrainian Parliamentary Commissioner for Human Rights, in an interview with Ukrainska Pravda

Quote: "Over the past two months, the process of repatriating bodies on both sides has seen some improvement. A fairly large number of our dead [soldiers and civilians] have been handed over by the Russian side to the Ukrainian side. But can I say for sure that we’ve received the bodies from the Il-76 crash until the examination has been completed? No. I hope we'll be able to give the Ukrainian public an answer to this question in a month or two."

For reference: On 8 November, the bodies of 563 fallen Ukrainian defenders were brought back to Ukraine as a result of repatriation operations. 

In early December, Tatyana Moskalkova, Russia's Commissioner for Human Rights, said in an interview with the Kremlin-aligned Russian news agency RIA Novosti that Russia had handed over to Ukraine the bodies of the POWs who were supposedly killed in the Il-76 plane crash in Belgorod Oblast on 24 January.

Ukraine's Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War has confirmed that Russia has handed over bodies that it claims are Ukrainian defenders killed in the Il-76 crash, but that these remains require additional identification, which is currently underway.

Background:

• On 24 January, a Russian Il-76 aircraft crashed in the Korocha district of Russia's Belgorod Oblast. Sources in the General Staff stated the plane was carrying S-300 anti-aircraft missiles. 
• After the crash, a number of Russian media outlets published statements by Andrei Kartapolov, chair of the Russian State Duma Committee on Defence, who claimed that dozens of Ukrainian POWs who were being transported for an exchange were on board the plane. Ukrainian Human Rights Commissioner Dmytro Lubinets stated that he was looking into the situation. Ukraine’s Defence Intelligence commented that a prisoner swap between Russia and Ukraine had been due to take place on Wednesday, 24 January. 
• A few hours after the plane crash was reported, the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces released a statement implying that the aircraft was a military target and had been carrying ammunition for the Russian military. 
• Lubinets said that Ukraine had not seen any signs that the Il-76 was carrying a significant number of Ukrainian prisoners, as claimed by the Russian Ministry of Defence and other representatives of Russia. The head of Ukraine’s Defence Intelligence, Kyrylo Budanov, said the situation with the Il-76 was unclear because Russia had not produced the bodies.
• Russia failed to provide the UN Security Council with any evidence that there had been Ukrainian prisoners of war on board the Il-76 and rejected a request for an international commission to investigate what happened near Belgorod on 24 January.

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