Ukrainian body collector says Russia hampers identification of their own dead

Record ID: 1705214

  • Title: Ukrainian body collector says Russia hampers identification of their own dead
  • Date: 4th January 2023
  • Summary: (SOUNDBITE) (Ukrainian) UKRAINIAN ARMED FORCES SERVICEMAN, NOM DE GUERRE 'YURIST' (UKRAINIAN FOR LAWYER), MEMBER OF A UNIT WITHIN DEFENCE MINISTRY WHICH RECOVERS AND IDENTIFIES KILLED RUSSIAN SOLDIERS, SAYING: "First of all, it is for economic reasons, as the Russian Federation is in poor economic shape. This (not sending bodies home) will prevent compensation from being paid (to families of service members in Russia). They also do not want the bodies to go back home so that the number of casualties is not known and also to prevent their mothers and close relatives from starting national protests."
  • Embargoed: 18th January 2023 15:18
  • Keywords: Kharkiv region Russian army Russian soldiers body exchange identification morgue prisoner exchange war in Ukraine
  • Location: KHARKIV REGION, UKRAINE / KHARKIV, UKRAINE
  • City: KHARKIV REGION, UKRAINE / KHARKIV, UKRAINE
  • Country: Ukraine
  • Topics: Conflicts/War/Peace,Europe,Military Conflicts,Editors' Choice
  • Reuters ID: LVA006033104012023RP1
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: CONTAINS GRAPHIC IMAGES
    A Ukrainian body collector working in the Kharkiv region said on Tuesday (January 3) he believed the Russian army hampered on purpose the identification process of its own fallen soldiers.
    A special unit within Ukraine's defence ministry that recovers and identifies killed Russian soldiers stores remains found in the Kharkiv region after Russian forces were pushed out in September 2022.
    A serviceman going by the nom de guerre 'Yurist,' Ukrainian for a lawyer, said the Russian army removed any elements from the bodies trying to cover the true identity of the fighters.
    "The Russian army themselves remove all insignia, identifying signs, batches, all documents from the bodies that may indicate which unit the dead soldier served with and who the person was."
    The remains of soldiers, killed in combat in the Kharkiv region, are currently stored in an undisclosed location in the Kharkiv region after the previous storage site was hit by a military strike on October 18, 2022.
    Speaking from the new facility, Yurist also suggested that Russia tried to hide the actual numbers of soldiers killed in combat by removing insignia from the dead.
    "This will prevent compensation from being paid (to families of service members in Russia). They also do not want the bodies to be sent to their families and relatives, to be sent home," the Ukrainian serviceman added.
    Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree on Tuesday (January 3) granting 5 million rubles (68,500 U.S. dollars) in compensation to families of service members killed in Ukraine.
    Kyiv has been saying for weeks that Russian President Vladimir Putin plans another mass mobilisation and shut Russia's borders to prevent men from escaping the draft.
    (Production: Vitalii Hnidyi, Anna Dabrowska, Felix Hoske)
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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