Pro-Russian militants have handed over to Ukraine the bodies of three servicemen who went missing near the line of contact in the Mariupol sector on 8 January, the ATO press centre said on Facebook.
"Today representatives of the Ukrainian Armed Forces' humanitarian project Evacuation-200 in Donetsk received the dead bodies of three Ukrainian servicemen," it said.
The Ukrainian Navy later issued a report officially identifying the three as Jr Sgt Mykola Okhrimenko, Jr Sgt Serhiy Sonko and Senior Seaman Serhiy Trubin. It expressed condolences to their families.
On 8 January, three servicemen on a mission in the Mariupol sector did not return to the home base. After several days, the Defence Ministry confirmed the death of the soldiers.