Russia handed over bodies of its own soldiers mixed with fallen Ukrainians during latest repatriations – Interior Ministry
Russia has deliberately returned the bodies of its own soldiers along with the bodies of fallen Ukrainian defenders during recent repatriations.
This was reported by Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko, according to Censor.NET.
According to him, after each repatriation, the process includes autopsies, thorough examinations by investigators, DNA analysis, and verification of every detail — "a complex and lengthy process."
"Russia is deliberately complicating the identification process. The bodies are returned in extremely mutilated condition, with body parts scattered across different bags. There have even been cases when the remains of a single individual were returned during different stages of repatriation," he said.
In addition, during the most recent repatriations, Ukraine received bodies of Russian soldiers mixed with those of Ukrainians.
"Unfortunately, this is a fact. It may have been done deliberately by the Russians to inflate the number of bodies returned and overload our experts, all while applying cynical informational pressure. Or it may simply reflect their habitual disregard for their own people. In any case, we still proceed with the identification of these bodies," Klymenko said.
He added that Ukrainian forensic experts are working at the limit of their capacity.
Ukraine is trying to accelerate the identification process as much as possible, but with each large-scale repatriation, this becomes more difficult — "and perhaps that is precisely Russia’s objective," the Interior Minister stated.
As a reminder, the final stage of the repatriation process took place on June 16, 2025, in accordance with the agreements reached in Istanbul.
Ukraine has received 6,057 bodies under the Istanbul agreements.
