Foreign journalists are seen by trucks carrying the bodies of servicemen of the Ukrainian Armed Forces © Dmitry Radchenko/TASS
Following several days of delays, Ukraine’s intelligence chief said on June 8 that the country would go on with what it called “a prisoner exchange” agreed upon with Russia during the last round of talks in Turkey, without providing any real timeframe or explaining why Kiev refused to take the bodies of over 6,000 of its troops who were killed in action.
“The start of repatriation activities based on results and negotiations in Istanbul is scheduled for next week, as authorized persons on Tuesday [June 3] were informed,” Kyrylo Budanov said in a statement.
“Everything is moving according to plan,” he added, without actually clarifying what is actually the plan that even the Russian was not apparently informed of.
Russia prepared the bodies for the handover around two days ago, but Ukraine simply ignored the situation for the whole time.
Lieutenant General Alexander Zorin, who is a part of the Russian negotiating group, confirmed on June 8 that Russia had delivered the first batch of 1,212 bodies of Ukrainian troops to the exchange in accordance with the agreement reached in Istanbul.
“In strict compliance with the accords reached during the Russia-Ukraine negotiations in Istanbul on June 2 and pursuant to the schedule agreed with the Ukrainian side in Istanbul, the Russian side has delivered the bodies of Ukrainian servicemen prepared for repatriation to the area of exchange. This is the first batch, the first part consisting of 1,212 bodies of Ukrainian soldiers, many of whom have been identified but all of them have been identified as Ukrainian servicemen by their uniform and the area where they were found,” Zorin said.
“I can tell you that now, literally in an hour, repatriation trains, which also have the bodies of servicemen, will start their movement so that the Russian side can honor its pledges that we gave to Ukrainians during the Istanbul talks, namely, the pledges to return more than six thousand bodies of servicemen found in the special military operation zone,” the commander continued.
“Let me repeat, we are ready to return over 6,000 bodies in batches by motor transport and railway transport. I have no other comments with regard to the polemics that this is some sort of a politicized decision. This is a purely humanitarian action and not the first one. Unfortunately, this is not the last one, apparently. We, the Russian side, are absolutely ready to fulfil all the accords, implement all the agreements both in the context of returning the bodies of dead Ukrainian servicemen and in the context of exchanging prisoners-of-war,” he added.
Lt. Gen. Zorin suggested that the handover will take place next week, without specifying a date, apparently because the Ukrainians are yet to provide one.
“There are signals that the humanitarian action will be postponed to next week. I confirm that we are waiting for an official confirmation through the channel known to the Ukrainian side that an action for the return of the bodies will take place. Let me repeat, we are ready to return over six thousand bodies in batches by motor transport and railway transport. I have no other comments with regard to the polemics that this is some politicized decision. This is a purely humanitarian action, not the first one and, unfortunately, not the last one, apparently,” the Russian general said.
The refrigerated trucks carrying the bodies of Ukrainian troops were showcased to foreign journalists, who experienced their shock over Kiev’s reluctance to take back its troops.
“The inhuman regime in Kiev simply rudely refused these vehicles, these bodies,” RIA Novosti quoted former United States Army officer Stanislav Krapivnik as saying.
Meanwhile, editor-in-chief of the Italian edition of International Reporters Andrea Lucidi noted that Kiev’s refusal to take the bodies shows a “massive lack of respect” for the sacrifices made by Ukrainian troops.
Lebanese journalist of the Al-Mayadeen TV channel Shaeto Musallam from his side explained why in his opinion Ukraine does not want to take the bodies.
“[Ukraine refused] for two reasons. One is unimportant: to avoid provoking the anger of the parents of the victims who died because of this war that Zelensky and his colleagues from the Anglo-Saxon [countries] started… And the second is in order not to pay the money that he should pay them for the fact that they died,” he said.
Ukrainian media made all sorts of claims in recent days to justify why the country is refusing to take the bodies of its own troops. In response, governor of the Zaporozhye region, Yevgeny Balitsky, published on Telegram lists revealing the identities of dozens of the bodies.
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All in all, Kiev appears to have moved from ignoring to stalling. There is still no guarantee that Ukraine will eventually take the bodies. For the country rulers, this issue threatens their political argument, as it reveals a major gap in casualties with Russia. It also poses a financial burden as a total of 13.5 billion hryvnias, or $328 million, will be due to the families of the slain troops if the bodies are taken.
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fake news by sf.
ukraine is just a sh*tty country that don’t care about its citizen, dead or alive. that is why it is losing with such ferocity. it is a corrupt death cult, and the bullshitters here are quite the proof of that. so much cr*p.
they even execute their own soldiers. who thought this land being an independent country was a good idea ?
these goy schmucks are of no value to (((the people pulling the strings.)))
ukraine is beautiful but russia stinks like a pig shit.
losers don’t get to be choosers…… except on the internet.
just think of it as… god wanted it to be this way.
a demented butt-hurt idiot squeals as it gets its ass kicked daily…wise up you moron.
there’s still the big elephant in the room no ones dares to speak about: white genocide by the jews.
its a long time since i started to write about white genocide by the germans exported to palestine. its like people desperately wants to stay in their fiction world, institulazed by nazi germany; 27 million jews killed in russia ! really ?! “jews” are a program in christianity, used for to mass murder. its used by the nazis, both in germany and “us”.
especially as thousands of ordinary ukrainian citizens have been forcibly conscripted by zelenskys azov goons and sent to to the eastern front as cannon fodder in a vain attempt to stall russias inevitable victory and the downfall of the nato lick arses in kiev. folks we’re watching a replay of the last days of nazi germany being stormed by the victorious red army in ww2
another lying stooge for the ukroreich cult of death and theft. lying isn’t going to get you a victory, but it will take eternity from you. keep lying. you’re going to lose : twice.
your clown kousins ready for the kiev meat market and grill season. yummmy!
the media in ukraine is silent about the handover, because 6000 families will also tell their neighbours and friends. this will be everywhere in the country and the resentment against joining afu grows a lot then🤫
they are just left with desperately _giving the impression_ of not losing, and 6000 dead body from kursk just _screams_ that ukraine is losing. denying reality is all they have left. pretty much in line with the us : all is bullshit.
170,000 russian soldiers excluding lpr and dpr been killed since feb 2022 in ukraine.
total russian personal military losses will be over 1 million at the end of june 2025. these staggering losses are underlining the low level of training and leadership of russian military.
nobody believe your cr*p because your side just keeps on lying and lying. at that point, you have no credibility left and you are just f*rting in the wind.
these people deal exclusively in lies. lies spew out every time they open their ugly mouths. the ukronazis, the zionists, their lying goy stooges in western countries, this is their stock in trade. i’ve never heard them speak the truth on a single occasion. they are probably simply incapable of ever speaking the truth on any subject whatsoever.
this is literally the truth. they construct a fiction world of trick movies like in “nine eleven”, or blame “viruses” for their own murderous intentions.
there isn’t a lie in history that a ukrainian or supporter hasn’t already thought up and used a thousand times, thinking no one would notice.
like i’m gonna believe some scumbag troll on the internet lol
i don’t know who is paying you to lie (i suspect the nato liars club) but you need to go look at the cemeteries in ukraine. your lies are a stain upon every soldier that ever died for their country, whatever their uniform. life is short…eternity is a long, long time to lose everything that is good. quit the job of lying and go home.
currently ukrainian to russian losses are somewhere in the region of 10:1. each one of those deaths should never have happened. each one is a tragedy. this war was deliberately engineered by the (((same people))), the nulands and their ilk. they have destroyed ukraine like they destroyed syria, libya, iraq, like they are planning to destroy taiwan.
and that’s why the ukrainians have lost a quarter of their territory and population. nice work, derpster.
gee, that’s britain’s entire standing army, times 10, yet they still keep on truckin’. go figure.
i’d like to know what would happen to these russian propagandists when russia 3rd time since last 110 years will collapse.
for the ukrainianian propagandists, russia will always collapse or suffer … but in the future. for some reason. lame.
russia and china have been “on the verge of collapse” for the past 30 years. iran has been “6 months away from having nuclear bombs” for the past 30 years.
but it’s always still there after the dust settles, go figure.
the ukraine doesn’t even have an economy you dumbarse!
you lost lately at least 13 heavy bombers and your revenge is hardly coming because you are weak and lame.
isn’t it 256 bombers ? and everyone and it’s mom saw the consecutive missile strikes. can ukraine do that ? of course not. be ready for more, because it’s not the ‘one time every 18 months” kind.
yea but u like big nazi dick in your ass
they should have just dumped these bodies on the roadside and f….d off. let the ukronazis play what stupid games they want.
no it’s a nice point they are making. it just shows the ukrainians how their leaders care about them, how they keep their word (payment for dead soldiers) and how they do not totally lie all the time, everywhere and in large quantities (according to zelensky, ukraine only has 31,000 casualties). pretty much very well played imho.
releasing their names was a stroke of genius. it’s called generating internal strife and it’s clearly spelled out in the nato handbook of color revolutions.
no. if russia do that, the jews in kiev will say that russia is dumping it’s own deads in ukraine.
surprising that ukraine didn’t (yet) bomb the trucks with their dead.
they might have blown themselves up prepping for the operation.
that was surprising. good catch.
yes, only for to be sure.
humiliated russia looks so beautiful.
fetch some glasses … you need them.
how’s the failed ukrainian cia project looking these days, what with the massive loss of territory and the huge portion of the populatin lost, and the tens of thousands of dead military personnel and the third world economy? keep up the good work.
do you love russian skunks?
you should take a look at western debt levels … just saying … effing idi*t.
the west is a paradise for ignorant fools
ukraine breaks another deal . mafia war machine continues new khazarian project . the powers that sent ukraine to suicidal destruction keep it going
zelensky buys mansions and corporations for his family worth billions of usd (just when talking about last year’s acquisitions) but he just cannot afford to compensate 6000 families for these soldiers that want to lay to rest back home. hard to believe (this has got to be the most repulsive scumbag on the planet right now.)
but the families still won’t get their payout because, well russian hackers crashed their systems just when the checks were to go out, of course.
and what a payout! just to lure in fresh meat. it’s more than an american kia’s family gets. what will the hundreds of thousands of families before that payout scheme was dreamed up do.. riot?
break out the popcorn & supersize it!
it would be nice to make it a compulsory law that zelensky, or a member of the kiev junta or the verkhovna rada of ukraine were to personally deliver the news to the closest of kin of those killed in action & to personally deliver the compensation checks for 370 thousand us dollars. may be that way those ukrainian politicians who still have a soul wouldn’t be so quick to use ukrainian men in the prime of their lives as nato cannon fodder
its a swedish concept, save money on retired, funerals, and mass murder in the hospitals. you can wonder how they solve it in the end, organ harvesting ? mincing ?
i heard the russian air force smashed the swedes in poltava in a very symbolic gesture, the exact place the swedish empire was previously defeated
yes, i read about it, and thanks for the liberation from some nazis. if you only had be in the er room i had to visit ! terrorize injured, sick, old, children and women are their weapons.
the fact is, ukraine is a shithole, bankrupt, sold its soul to western devils and got nothing in return but death and misery