Near the Russian border, bodies still lie on the battlefield

There are still bodies on the battlefield, lying where they fell on farm fields or inside burned-out tanks as Ukrainian troops swept through Russian-occupied territory in a major counteroffensive this month.

In this northeastern corner of Ukraine, the Russian army was pushed all the way back across the border into Russia after holding the area for months. But artillery shells still whistle through the air, fired from inside Russia and landing with resonating thumps and billows of black smoke on Ukrainian territory.

Despite the shelling, a small group of soldiers winds its way along a rutted mud track to where a dead Ukrainian combatant lies, spotted by a drone used to search for bodies and shallow graves.

"It's a risk. We are always risking our lives and at any moment there might be some shell flying in from the territory of Russia," said Vitalii, a commander in the National Guard whose men are searching for bodies of servicemen from both sides and of civilians. He asked to be identified by his first name only for security reasons.

The dead Ukrainian is lying on his back in body armor and helmet, a cap beneath it to block out the sun. The body has been there for a long time.

They document the scene and lift the remains into a body bag before heading farther along the track to a charred Russian tank. It takes only one of the team to carry away the body bag holding the remains of the Russian found inside.

Autopsies will follow, and the details of the sites recorded and passed on to investigators looking into potential war crimes, Vitalii said.

The nearby village of Kozacha Lopan, whose edge lies less than two kilometers (just over a mile) from the Russian border, was retaken by Ukrainian forces Sept. 11.