Ukraine: Russia Repatriated Remains of Its Own Soldiers
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Diverging Reports Breakdown
Ukraine received at least 20 bodies of Russian soldiers in recent exchanges, Zelenskyy says
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Ukraine received at least 20 bodies of Russian soldiers in recent exchanges, Zelenskyy says
Freed Ukrainian soldiers arriving after a POW exchange with Russia walk past Ukrainians holding photos of their missing relatives in the Chernyhiv region, Ukraine, Friday, June 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Dan Bashakov)
Freed Ukrainian soldiers arriving after a POW exchange with Russia walk past Ukrainians holding photos of their missing relatives in the Chernyhiv region, Ukraine, Friday, June 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Dan Bashakov)
Freed Ukrainian soldiers arriving after a POW exchange with Russia walk past Ukrainians holding photos of their missing relatives in the Chernyhiv region, Ukraine, Friday, June 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Dan Bashakov)
Freed Ukrainian soldiers arriving after a POW exchange with Russia walk past Ukrainians holding photos of their missing relatives in the Chernyhiv region, Ukraine, Friday, June 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Dan Bashakov)
KYIV, Ukraine — Ukraine’s president said that Russia repatriated at least 20 of its own dead soldiers in recent exchanges with Ukraine, describing it as a result of Moscow’s disorganization in carrying out large swaps of wounded POWs and remains of troops.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that an Israeli citizen was among the dead Ukraine had received in recent exchanges. He spoke to journalists on Friday but his comments were embargoed until Saturday. Officials did not disclose the identities of the bodies.
“They threw the corpses of their citizens at us. This is their attitude toward war, toward their soldiers. And this is already documented. Sometimes these bodies even have Russian passports,” he said.
He said the Russian side insisted the dead were all Ukrainians.
Journalists were shown a Russian passport and ID belonging to one of the 20 dead Russians. According to the document, the man came from the Moscow region.
The exchanges of the dead and wounded soldiers are the only tangible result of direct peace talks in Istanbul. In June, Ukraine and Russia agreed to exchange the bodies of fallen soldiers in a 6,000-for-6,000 format during the second round of negotiations. Ukraine was concerned that the number was too high and that the sides did not have enough time for forensic examinations and checking the identities of the dead.
Zelenskyy said he suspected Russia’s plan was to play along with peace talks to appease the U.S. and stave off more sanctions but without ending the war that Russian President Vladimir Putin believes he is winning.
He said that because of this, Ukraine would be “in a really difficult situation” of deciding whether to continue the talks in Istanbul.
Zelenskyy said Ukraine was against Iran acquiring nuclear weapons, because of its military partnership with Russia, but stopped short of expressing explicit support for Israel’s strikes. He repeated that the new war in the Middle East will affect Ukraine indirectly.
“Iran gave the Russians everything to kill us. They gave them martyrs, they gave them missiles, and they gave them licenses. The fact that their production capacities have now become weaker is (a) positive for us. But at certain points it may already be too late,” he said, also citing Russia’s military cooperation with North Korea.
Russia has modified Iran-made Shahed drones and has used them, often hundreds at a time, in barrages targeting Ukraine.
Zelenskyy said 39 Russian companies were involved in the production of Oreshnik, an intermediate-range ballistic missile capable of carrying a nuclear warhead. He said 21 of them are not under sanctions. “And therefore it is absolutely incomprehensible why sanctions should not be imposed urgently,” he said.
Russia attacked Ukraine with the missile in November, marking a serious escalation in the war and Russia’s capabilities.
Zelenskyy dispelled reports that Patriots air defense systems were destroyed in recent Russian drone and missile barrages. He also said Ukraine has started using domestically produced interceptors to shoot down Shahed drones and is seeking financing from Germany to ramp up the weapon’s production.
He added he sent signals to Western partners asking them to give up 0.25% of their GDP to support Ukraine’s local defense industry.
Zelenskyy said it’s likely he would attend a NATO summit later this week, but that he would make a final decision on Monday.
Though Zelenskyy did not meet Trump who had left early the Group of Seven summit in Canada last week, Ukraine’s Economy Minister Yulia Svyrydenko and the head of the president’s office, Andriy Yermak, gave U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent a list of weapons Ukraine is hoping to purchase. “We will wait feedback,” Zelenskyy said, adding the package of weapons included Patriot systems.
The weapons package would be among the topics Zelenskyy plans to discuss with Trump in their next meeting, he added, as well as the issue of sanctions.
“Frankly, it seems to me that we need to talk about a new breath in the diplomatic track,” he said. “We need greater certainty and greater pressure from the world on Putin.”
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Ukraine war briefing: Russia repatriated at least 20 of its own dead soldiers in recent exchanges, Zelenskyy says
Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Russia sent Ukraine at least 20 of its own dead soldiers in recent exchanges with Kyiv. He described it as a result of Moscow’s disorganisation in carrying out large swaps of wounded PoW’s and remains of troops. He said that an “Israeli mercenary” fighting for Moscow was among the dead Ukraine had received. Zelenskiy has also accused western firms of supplying Russia with “machine tools” used to make weapons, in remarks made public Saturday. The Ukrainian president also called on Ukraine”s western partners to allocate 0.25% of their GDP to helping Kyiv ramp up weapons production and said the country plans to sign agreements this summer to start exporting weapon production technologies.
Zelenskyy has also accused western firms of supplying Russia with “machine tools” used to make weapons, in remarks made public Saturday. He said companies from Germany, the Czech Republic, South Korea and Japan were among them, as well as one business “supplying a small number of components from the United States.” He said most of the companies supplying tools to Russia were from China, but that dozens of western firms were also culpable: “We have passed on all this information to all countries, our partners, everyone … We strongly urge everyone to impose sanctions on these companies,” the Ukrainian leader added.
The Ukrainian president also called on Ukraine’s western partners to allocate 0.25% of their GDP to helping Kyiv ramp up weapons production and said the country plans to sign agreements this summer to start exporting weapon production technologies. In remarks released for publication Saturday, Zelenskyy said Ukraine was in talks with Denmark, Norway, Germany, Canada, the United Kingdom, and Lithuania to launch joint weapon production. He also said on Saturday he was planning staff changes in Ukraine’s diplomatic corps and also in government institutions to boost the country’s resilience. He gave no time frame for the decisions.
Siarhei Tsikhanouski, a leading Belarus opposition figure, was freed on Saturday after more than five years in prison, in the most significant move so far by Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko to try to ease his isolation from the West. Lukashenko has been shunned by the West for years and faced sanctions after brutally crushing pro-democracy demonstrations in 2020 and then allowing Vladimir Putin, his close ally, to launch part of his 2022 invasion of Ukraine from Belarusian territory. The release came just hours after Belarusian authorities announced that Lukashenko met with US president Donald Trump’s envoy for Ukraine, Keith Kellogg, in Minsk.
In the Donetsk region, Russian strikes on Saturday on key towns on the eastern front of the war in Ukraine killed at least one person. The Russian military said its forces had captured another small village in its slow advance westward through Donetsk region. Russian forces struck Sloviansk and Kramatorsk – two cities that Moscow will target as its forces press on. Donetsk region Governor Vadym Filashkin said one person died and three were injured in Sloviansk. In Kramatorsk, officials said at least one person was trapped under rubble and a number of other residents were injured.
In the north, another person died in a drone attack in the north near the Russian border, Ukrainian officials said. A mass drone attack on the town of Nizhyn near the Russian border killed one person and damaged local infrastructure. Reports from Kharkiv region in the north-east suggested Russian troops were closing in on the city of Kupiansk. On Friday, the Russian Defence Ministry said it had captured the village of Moskovka, just outside the city of Kupiansk.
Ukraine ‘received at least 20 bodies of Russian soldiers in recent exchanges’
Volodymyr Zelensky said that an Israeli citizen was among the dead Ukraine had received in recent exchanges. The exchanges of the dead and wounded soldiers are the only tangible result of direct peace talks in Istanbul. In June, Ukraine and Russia agreed to exchange the bodies of fallen soldiers in a 6,000-for-6,000 format during the second round of negotiations.
Volodymyr Zelensky said that an Israeli citizen was among the dead Ukraine had received in recent exchanges.
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“They threw the corpses of their citizens at us. This is their attitude toward war, toward their soldiers. And this is already documented. Sometimes these bodies even have Russian passports,” he said.
He said the Russian side insisted the dead were all Ukrainians.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky (Darryl Dyck/The Canadian Press via AP)
Journalists were shown a Russian passport and ID belonging to one of the 20 dead Russians. According to the document, the man came from the Moscow region.
The exchanges of the dead and wounded soldiers are the only tangible result of direct peace talks in Istanbul.
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In June, Ukraine and Russia agreed to exchange the bodies of fallen soldiers in a 6,000-for-6,000 format during the second round of negotiations.
Ukraine was concerned that the number was too high and that the sides did not have enough time for forensic examinations and checking the identities of the dead.
Mr Zelensky said he suspected Russia’s plan was to play along with peace talks to appease the US and stave off more sanctions but without ending the war that Russian president Vladimir Putin believes he is winning.
He said that because of this, Ukraine would be “in a really difficult situation” of deciding whether to continue the talks in Istanbul.
Putin sends his own dead soldiers to Ukraine in ‘disdain for fallen troops’
Putin sends his own dead soldiers to Ukraine in ‘disdain for fallen troops’ Volodymyr Zelensky has said Russia repatriated at least 20 of its own dead soldier in recent exchanges with Ukraine – ‘they threw the corpses of their citizens at us’ It comes after Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said the body of a Russian soldier being handed to Ukraine showed how Russia “treats its people with contempt” The exchange had been agreed in the early June talks between Ukraine and Russia. It saw Ukraine receive the bodies of 6,057 of its soldiers, while Russia said 6,060 bodies had been transferred to Ukraine. It is not clear why there is such a large difference between the number of exchanged bodies, but Russia may have been able to recover its owndead following small territorial gains.
Volodymyr Zelensky has said Russia repatriated at least 20 of its own dead soldiers in recent exchanges with Ukraine – ‘they threw the corpses of their citizens at us,’ he said
‘Sometimes these bodies even have Russian passports’, said Zelensky (Image: National Police of Ukraine/east2west news )
Vladimir Putin’s Russia has been handing over its own deceased troops to Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelensky has said. Zelensky said the bodies of 20 Russian soldiers had been received.
The exchange had been agreed in the early June talks between Ukraine and Russia. It saw Ukraine receive the bodies of 6,057 of its soldiers, while Russia said 6,060 bodies had been transferred to Ukraine and that the remains of 78 of its own soldiers were repatriated.
It is not clear why there is such a large difference between the number of exchanged bodies, but Russia may have been able to recover its own dead following small territorial gains. The process was monitored by members of the Red Cross.
Alexander Bugaev, one of the 20 soldiers (Image: Social media/east2west news )
“It has already been confirmed during repatriations that the bodies of 20 people handed over to us as our deceased soldiers are Russian,” Zelensky said, describing it as a result of Moscow’s disorganisation in carrying out large swaps of wounded POWs and remains of troops.. He said the Russian side insisted the dead were all Ukrainians, adding “Sometimes these bodies even have Russian passports”.
“They threw the corpses of their citizens at us. This is their attitude toward war, toward their soldiers. And this is already documented. Sometimes these bodies even have Russian passports,” he said.
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One of the bodies is an “Israeli mercenary” fighting for Russia, Zelensky said. It comes after Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said the body of a Russian soldier being handed to Ukraine showed how Russia “treats its people with contempt”.
A Ukrainian minister said Bugaev’s family had been searching for him (Image: Social media/east2west news )
Mr Klymenko said that one of the bodies, labelled ‘No. 192/25’, was identified as Alexander Viktorovich Bugaev. Bugaev, born in 1974, was carrying a Russian passport and was dressed in a Russian military uniform. Officials also found a military ID that said he had served in the 1st Battalion of the 39th Separate Guards Motorized Rifle Brigade, the Kyiv Independent reported.
“This is yet another proof of how Russia treats its people with contempt, throwing their bodies onto the bodies of Ukrainian soldiers,” Klymenko said. He said that Bugaev’s family had been searching for him for months.
The minister also said that Russia had located his remains after he went missing amid fighting close to the village of Novomykhailivka in Donetsk, but they chose to “dump” his body.
Bugaev pictured with his wife (Image: Social media/east2west news )
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“This shows how little human life means to Russia,” said Klymenko. “Or maybe it’s just a way to avoid paying compensation to the families. But they will have to pay anyway: we are returning these bodies.”
As the was continues to rage in Ukraine, a total of 77 combat clashes between the two sides were recorded today, according to an update from the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in a Facebook post.
During the latest repatriations, Russia handed over the bodies of its own soldiers to Ukraine — a concrete example has emerged
Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said that Russia is deliberately complicating the process of repatriating the bodies of the dead by mixing the remains of its own soldiers with those of Ukrainian defenders. He gave a specific example — the body of a Russian soldier found among the bodies. The person has been identified as Alexander Viktorovich Bugayev, born in 1974.
‘Russia is turning the repatriation of the bodies of the deceased into a tool of manipulation and pressure. The enemy is deliberately complicating identification for us, creating chaos, mixing the bodies of Russian soldiers with those of Ukrainians,’ said the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
Klymenko gave a specific example — the body of a Russian soldier found among the bodies of Ukrainian soldiers.
Body No. 192/25. Dressed in a Russian Armed Forces uniform. Found on him: Russian passport, military ID, military service certificate No. 1252, excerpts from the order of the commander of military unit No. 52 dated 26 December 2023, dog tag with the inscription: ‘VS ROSSII MT-146004’.
Documents of a Russian soldier / Photo: National Police
The person has been identified as Alexander Viktorovich Bugayev, born in 1974, a serviceman of the 1st Battalion of the 39th Separate Guards Motorised Rifle Brigade of the Russian Federation (military unit No. 35390). His relatives began searching for him at the end of March after he disappeared in the Novomykhailivka area of Donetsk Oblast.
‘This is yet another proof of how Russia treats its people with contempt, throwing their bodies onto the bodies of Ukrainian soldiers. This shows how insignificant human life is for Russia. Or maybe it’s just a way to avoid paying compensation to families,’ added Klymenko.