During the exchange of the bodies of fallen servicemembers, Russia handed over to Ukraine the remains of its soldiers – some of whom had Russian passports – and even a citizen of another country. This was stated by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy during a meeting with Ukrainian and foreign journalists.
"It has already been recorded during repatriations that the bodies of 20 people handed over to us as our fallen servicemembers are Russians. For example, there was an Israeli mercenary who fought on their side. He is a citizen of Israel and had Israeli documents. Although they told us that they were only Ukrainians and only military personnel, this is a lie that has already been documented," the Head of State informed.
The President stressed that such recurring incidents indicate that this was not accidental. In his view, the Russian side is doing this intentionally. Their goal is to show how many bodies of Ukrainian warriors they supposedly have.
“Of course, we want to bring back all our warriors and our fallen heroes – but we certainly do not want to take back Russian bodies just for the sake of the count,” Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.
The Head of State added that Ukraine has passed the relevant information to the Russian side and is prepared to return the bodies of Russians. However, there has been no constructive response from Russia.