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Bodies of British volunteers returned in Ukraine

STORY: The bodies of British volunteer aid workers Andrew Bagshaw and Chris Parry have been returned to Ukraine, a Ukrainian official said on Saturday (February 4).

That's as Russia and Ukraine traded almost 200 prisoners in a swap announced separately by both sides.

Parry and Bradshaw were killed during an attempted humanitarian evacuation in eastern Ukraine, Parry's family has said.

Sky News reported Bagshaw's family as saying the volunteers were killed while trying to rescue an elderly woman from the town of Soledar.

Ukrainian police had said the two men were reported missing on January 7.

Soledar, which had a pre-war population of 10,000, became the epicentre of Russia's assault for several weeks in the beginning of January.

Last month Ukraine confirmed its troops had withdrawn from the town.

The Ukrainian president's chief of staff announced that the bodies had been handed over.

He also said on social media that 116 Ukrainian prisoners of war had returned.

Russian news agencies cited Moscow's defense ministry saying 63 Russian prisoners had been freed.