Zelenski accuses Moscow of sending Ukraine dozens of dead Russian soldiers. “The bodies of their citizens threw us”

The President of Ukraine, Volodimir Zelenski, said that Russia sent to Ukraine at least 20 of its dead soldiers in the recent exchanges with the Ukrainians, describing this to be the result of Moscow's disorganization in carrying out the prisoners of war wounded and remains, reports by the water.

Volodimir Zelenski said that among the dead received by Ukraine in the recent exchanges was an Israeli citizen. He spoke to journalists on Friday, but his comments were subject to embargo until Saturday. Officials did not reveal the identity of the corpses.

“They threw us the bodies of their citizens. This is their attitude towards the war, towards their soldiers. And this is already documented. Sometimes these bodies have even Russian passports,” he said.

He said that the Russian side insisted that all the dead were Ukrainians.

The journalists were shown a passport and a Russian identity card belonging to one of the 20 dead Russians. According to the document, the man came from the Moscow region.

The exchanges of dead and wounded soldiers is the only tangible result of direct peace negotiations in Istanbul. In June, Ukraine and Russia agreed to exchange corpses of fallen soldiers, 6,000 for 6,000, within the second round of negotiations. Ukraine was worried that the number was too high and that the parties did not have enough time for forensic examinations and checking the identity of the dead.

Zelenski said he suspects that Russia's plan is to pretend to participate in peace negotiations to calm the US and avoid new sanctions, without ending the war that Russian President Vladimir Putin believes.

He said that, because of this, Ukraine will be “in a very difficult situation” regarding the decision to continue the negotiations in Istanbul.