In what condition is Russia returning the bodies of Ukrainian soldiers and what is it "doing on purpose"?

After the recent exchanges of bodies of the dead, in particular the negotiations in Istanbul, more than 10,000 bodies are currently being identified. According to him, the agreements did not include "6,000 for 6,000", and the repatriation, that is, the handover of bodies, is being carried out "in the amount that is available".

“According to international conventions, we should not spend a lot of our resources on preserving their bodies, and accordingly, we should spend on preserving the bodies of our defenders. When we have a certain number of bodies and the opportunity to carry out this event, it must be carried out, regardless of the number. It is not one on one or two on two. There are bodies - they must be returned,” Dobroserdov said.

Repatriations of bodies take place every month, he said. And starting from October last year, the number of bodies received by Ukraine in this way began to grow significantly.

 

“It started with 500, then 700 bodies, then 900 – and so we reached 1,000.”

The ombudsman’s office calls them “large-scale repatriations.”

“During different periods of the war, repatriation processes take place at different rates. If we deoccupy territories, we have more bodies of Russian military personnel. And during such periods, we can return more bodies than we receive back for repatriation. If now aggressive active actions are taking place more by the aggressor country, they have the opportunity to collect bodies in the occupied territories. Accordingly, now they can return more bodies,” Dobroserdov explained.

According to him, after the Istanbul Agreements, Ukraine took over more than 6,000 bodies. Of these, 1,600 were sent to Odessa, where more than 1,000 have already been examined. The samples were sent for molecular-genetic testing.

This is especially important given that sometimes, according to Dobroserdov, the bodies are returned in parts. Moreover, in most cases they are transferred without indicating any information - only the place where the body was taken from.

“How can the remains of three people be placed in one package? I am more considering the version that in some cases this is done deliberately in order to complicate our work, in order to devote more time to the whole process. The body can be returned to the family for burial, the next repatriation follows, identification is carried out again and the burial is carried out,” Dobroserdov said.

According to him, since the beginning of the year there have been several cases when during the examination it turned out that the body belongs to a member of the Russian armed forces, which was evident from the badge, uniform, insignia, personal belongings. Some of them have already been returned.

Bodies whose DNA did not match the Ukrainian database were also handed over to the Ukrainians. After that, Ukrainian authorities agreed with the Hague-based International Commission on Missing Persons that Russians searching for dead soldiers could also submit their DNA there.

"If we confirm that this body belongs to citizens of the Russian Federation, the procedure for the transfer of the body and repatriation will begin. We do not need their bodies. We adhere to international legal agreements, the Geneva Convention," Dobroserdov said.

The ombudsman also outlined the steps that need to be taken to find all missing Ukrainians.

“More than 70,000 people are being searched. We are searching for more than 10,000 bodies. We understand, plus or minus, how many of them are now officially in captivity. We are not publishing this figure now, because certain procedures are still ongoing. And therefore two main questions remain.

First, we need agreements on conducting search operations in the gray zone: where our searchers cannot work now, and where their searchers do not work.

Second, we need official confirmation of all those who are in captivity. Because we are still finding those who disappeared in 2022-2023. But this has not been confirmed through the Red Cross. Guys who have been in captivity for a long time are returning from captivity, but this has not been confirmed. All this leads us to the version that a large number of our missing persons are actually in captivity - and this has not been confirmed.

And a certain number of our missing persons are in the zone of active hostilities or in the gray zone, where it is necessary to conduct search operations.

June 16 began "the final stage of repatriation activities carried out in accordance with the Istanbul Agreement," Dobroserdov said.

Agreements have been reached; in total, Ukraine has taken over 6,057 bodies. Now, examinations and identification of the repatriated bodies will be carried out.