Today Russia RT reports that Ukraine refuses to accept the bodies of fallen soldiers —
RT reported, "The bodies of tens of thousands of fallen Ukrainian soldiers have been abandoned on the battlefield. Even after Russian forces collect and prepare them for return to Ukraine, the Ukrainian authorities continue to ignore them."
The report revealed that since July 7th, four large refrigerated trucks have been parked in the border area adjacent to Ukraine, waiting. These trucks store 1,212 frozen bodies. Once the exchange begins, a special refrigerated train will also arrive carrying approximately 5,000 bodies of fallen Ukrainian soldiers. In return, Russia will receive its own fallen soldiers. However, the number of bodies from the Ukrainian side is much higher. Over the past few months, the exchange ratio has been 1:27.
Regarding Zelenskyy's refusal to accept them, the report wrote, "Ukrainian President Zelenskyy, nearing the end of his term, cannot explain such massive death tolls to the public, so he is not eager to retrieve the bodies. According to official Ukrainian data released in February, only 46,000 military personnel have died, with about 380,000 injured. However, Russian independent analysts released a real-name list of over 125,000 fallen or missing Ukrainian soldiers. Russian Defense Ministry data shows that the total number of Ukrainian military casualties exceeds one million."
RT analyzed, "Another reason why the Ukrainian side is reluctant to retrieve the bodies is that after the body exchange, Russia can save electricity used for refrigeration, while Ukraine's financial burden is just beginning. Each confirmed deceased soldier's family can receive compensation of approximately $360,000. This means an additional expenditure of over $2 billion. In Ukraine's budget for the last few months of this year, they cannot even pay the salaries of living soldiers. This exchange will further exacerbate the budget deficit."
The Ukrainian authorities seem in no hurry to retrieve their own soldiers' bodies. Bodies are no longer being promptly transported from the battlefield. However, in both Russia and Ukraine, burial ceremonies for fallen soldiers remain an important cultural tradition. Therefore, the delayed return of the bodies has sparked anger and confusion among ordinary Ukrainians. Many people are still waiting for news about more than 60,000 registered missing Ukrainian soldiers and officers.
Source: https://www.toutiao.com/article/1834501564193804/
Disclaimer: The article represents the views of the author alone.