Kiev ( Ukraine ) - (AFP) - Ukraine announced Tuesday that it had returned, after negotiations, the remains of dozens of Ukrainian soldiers, some of whom died in Olnevka prison, which Kiev accused Russian forces of bombing in July.

"Another transfer has taken place: 62 killed heroes have been returned to their country," the Ukrainian ministry responsible for the reintegration of separatist-held areas said on social media.

"The negotiations were difficult, but (...) it was possible to return our soldiers, especially the soldiers from (...) Olnevka," she added.
Russia and Ukraine blamed each other in July for the deadly bombing of the prison where captive soldiers are being held in the Kremlin-controlled Olnevka in eastern Ukraine's Donetsk region, which has since been annexed by Moscow.

Kiev denied targeting civilian infrastructure or prisoners of war. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called what he called the Russian bombing of the facility a "war crime".

Moscow said the Ukrainians held in the prison included members of the Azov Battalion, which defended the Azovstal steel plant, which was the last bastion of resistance in the Ukrainian port city of Mariupol before Moscow took it.