According to today’s Irish Times, remains believed to be those of Finbar Cafferkey, the Mayo man killed in combat in Ukraine in April, have been recovered.

However, the Cafferkey family have been told it may be months before they can be repatriated to Ireland due to the large number of human remains which have to be processed.

Mr Cafferkey, from Achill , died fighting with Ukrainian forces keeping a vital supply route open to the city of Bakhmut in the east of the country. For months the city was the location of some of the war’s fiercest fighting until it finally fell to the invading Russian forces in May.

Mr Cafferkey (45) was killed in a Russian mortar strike along with two other foreign fighters.

More than 40 troops fighting for the Ukrainian side were killed in the same engagement that day and continued fighting led to long delays to recovering remains.

The remains of Mr Cafferkey and his comrades have now been recovered and are being kept in a refrigerated unit in a military base in Ukraine. DNA and other tests will be conducted to formally identify them before they are released back to his family in Achill.

Repatriation is not expected for about three months, or possibly longer.

Well over 350,000 troops have been killed or wounded in the war since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022. This includes more than about 300 foreign fighters and three Irish men.