Russia is utilizing the return of warfare useless as a device for manipulation to obscure the dimensions of its navy losses from the general public, President Volodymyr Zelensky mentioned throughout a briefing on June 20 attended by the Kyiv Unbiased.
In response to Zelensky, Ukrainian authorities have confirmed that not less than 20 of the our bodies Russia returned as Ukrainian have been truly Russian troopers.
"Typically these our bodies even have Russian passports," Zelensky mentioned. He additionally cited the case of a deceased Israeli citizen combating on Russia's facet, whom Moscow had handed off as a Ukrainian soldier.
"Putin is afraid to confess how many individuals have died. As a result of if the second comes when he must mobilize, his society can be afraid," he mentioned.
Zelensky's remarks comply with the June 2 prisoner and physique alternate settlement in Istanbul, essentially the most intensive of the full-scale warfare. Beneath that deal, Ukraine recovered 6,057 our bodies of its fallen troopers. Russia, in response to Kremlin aide Vladimir Medinsky, took again solely 78.
Explaining the distinction between the 2 numbers, Zelensky mentioned that the our bodies of the overwhelming majority of Russian troopers presently killed on the battlefield stay in Russian palms.
"They have been advancing, and their useless remained within the territory the place they have been," he mentioned.
In response to the president, exchanges of our bodies and even severely wounded troopers have taken place on the battlefield, however such exchanges are sometimes not publicized.
Inside Minister Ihor Klymenko earlier confirmed a case during which the stays of Alexander Viktorovich Bugaev, a Russian soldier from the thirty ninth Separate Guards Motorized Rifle Brigade, have been returned to Ukraine disguised as a Ukrainian casualty.
"This exhibits how little human life means to Russia. Or perhaps it's only a technique to keep away from paying compensation to the households. However they should pay anyway: we’re returning these our bodies," Klymenko mentioned on June 19.
Ukraine's Normal Workers mentioned on June 21 that Russian forces have sustained over 1,010,000 casualties — killed and wounded — since launching the full-scale invasion in February 2022.
Unbiased Russian outlet Mediazona, together with the BBC Russian Service, has verified the identities of 111,387 Russian troopers killed, emphasizing that the precise quantity is probably going a lot larger.
Russia has continued to disclaim the dimensions of its losses, usually inflating Ukrainian casualties and spreading false narratives. Zelensky warned that that is a part of a broader propaganda effort to "break the fact during which we dwell," during which Russian forces are struggling far better losses.
The June 2 negotiations in Istanbul led to essentially the most intensive prisoner and physique alternate settlement of the full-scale warfare, though no ceasefire was achieved.
On June 7, Russia accused Kyiv of rejecting a proposed physique return, releasing footage that allegedly confirmed Ukrainian corpses saved in refrigeration items. Ukraine dismissed these claims, saying that the footage was shot on Russian territory, not at a delegated handover website.
Kyiv has persistently known as for an "all-for-all" alternate of prisoners of warfare, however Moscow has thus far refused to conform to a complete swap.
The Kyiv IndependentKateryna Hodunova