Russia is returning the bodies of the dead to Ukraine in an extremely mutilated state, and during recent repatriations, it has also handed over the bodies of the occupiers.
This was stated by the Minister of Internal Affairs Ihor Klymenko.
"This process is already complicated and lengthy. And Russia is also deliberately making the identification process difficult for us. Bodies are returned in an extremely mutilated state, body parts in different bags. There are cases when the remains of one person are returned even during different stages of repatriation," he says.
In addition, during the last repatriations, the bodies of Russian soldiers were also handed over to us, mixed with the bodies of Ukrainians.
"This could have been done intentionally by the Russians to increase the number of bodies transferred and to overload our experts, complementing all this with cynical information pressure. Or it could be their usual careless attitude towards their own people. In any case, we will also identify these bodies," the minister added.
The Foreign Intelligence Service, meanwhile, warns that the Russian Federation is preparing the culmination of a campaign to discredit Ukraine in the context of the exchanges.
It is expected that pro-Russian propagandists will spread narratives such as "Ukraine refuses to accept the bodies of its dead", "the bodies of almost six thousand soldiers have not yet been returned to Ukraine", and "the relatives of the dead will have to wait longer due to the inaction of the Ukrainian authorities".
The final part of the propaganda campaign will be the deliberate release of distorted lists of Ukrainian military and civilian casualties allegedly identified by the Russians into the media. In this way, Russia hopes to provoke a wave of panic and indignation in Ukrainian society and shift responsibility for the crimes committed onto the Ukrainian authorities.
- At negotiations between Ukraine and Russia in Istanbul on June 2, the parties agreed on a large exchange in the format of "all for all" in the following categories: seriously wounded and seriously ill, young people from 18 to 25 years old. At the same time, they agreed to exchange 6 thousand bodies of dead soldiers.
- On Sunday, June 15, Ukraine returned the bodies of 1,200 fallen citizens, including defenders. On June 16, another 1,245 bodies were returned.
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