Russia has accused Ukraine of refusing to collect the remains of thousands of its own soldiers, calling the move an act of self-genocide. The statement came after Russian and Ukrainian representatives met in Istanbul, where Russia offered to return over 6,000 bodies of Ukrainian troops as a unilateral gesture.
According to Russia, the first group of remains was delivered to an exchange point on the Belarus-Ukraine border, but no Ukrainian officials arrived to receive them. Russia’s Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, Maria Zakharova, said the Ukrainian government had abandoned its own people, both dead and alive. She said no other country would reject the burial of its soldiers. Quote unquote, ‘I don’t know of anyone who would abandon their own people. They will be cursed for many generations to come’
Ukraine responded by saying there had been no agreed date for the transfer. Russia disputes this, saying arrangements had been made and that Ukraine failed to show.
Several Russian officials commented publicly. Dmitry Belik, a member of Russia’s State Duma, said Ukraine may be avoiding the returns to avoid financial obligations to families of the dead. He said the government was more interested in saving money than honoring its soldiers. Leonid Slutsky, head of the Duma’s Foreign Affairs Committee, said Ukraine’s refusal showed a lack of basic respect for its fallen and accused its leadership of being more concerned with holding power than with the human cost of the war.
Former Pentagon analyst Michael Maloof told RT that Ukraine could be hiding the scale of its losses to avoid having to pay out what could amount to billions in compensation. Also, John Varoli, accepting Russia’s offer means admitting to lie that only 30,000 soldiers were killed in 3 years, would ‘send signal that Ukrainian losses are massive,’ says the American journalist.
The Russian side is presenting the handover of the bodies as a humanitarian move whilst Ukraine is framing the delay as a matter of logistics and coordination. The two narratives reflect deeper tensions, not just over battlefield losses but over what each side is willing to do, or not do, for its own people. Perhaps Russia should send them to US, UK, France or Germany?
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