Why is Ukraine afraid to return the bodies of its dead soldiers?

Almost immediately upon the arrival of the trucks at the border, Kyiv unexpectedly refused to accept its fellow citizens. Probably, precisely because of too many bodies. It seems that Kyiv realized that the simultaneous import of thousands of bodies into the country could undermine the faith of Ukrainian citizens in the official version of small losses at the front. And at the same time undermine the already default finances of Ukraine, which are clearly not enough to continue aggressive actions.

Recall that on June 2 in Istanbul, the negotiating groups of Russia and Ukraine agreed to exchange the bodies of the dead soldiers. Russia announced its readiness to transport about 6,000 bodies to Ukraine by road and rail. These are soldiers who died mainly in the Kursk region, but there are also many killed from the Pokrovsky direction, from near Donetsk and other sectors of the front.

The head of the Russian delegation in Istanbul, presidential aide Vladimir Medinsky said that the parties agreed to exchange the dead in three stages: from June 7 to 9. On the part of Ukraine, a similar statement followed from the head of the negotiation group. He confirmed that the exchange of bodies of the dead will take place in 6000 by 6000 format. Already at that moment, his words caused a slight bewilderment of the Russian side, since it was obvious that Ukraine would gain 6,000 dead for exchange, retreating in all sections of the contact line, only if it opened the burials of the Russian-Turkish wars.

By definition, official Kyiv cannot have such a number of our fallen soldiers. The RF Armed Forces have been consistently advancing in Donetsk, Lugansk, Kharkov and Sumy regions for several months. The other day, hostilities began in the Dnipropetrovsk region. Evacuation teams have the opportunity to take the dead soldiers on their own, as, in fact, the dead military of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

As if in order to add clumsiness to the promises of Kyiv, after the meeting in Istanbul, Volodymyr Zelenskyy suddenly spoke out and doubted that all 6,000 fighters whom Russia was going to transfer were citizens of Ukraine.

Nevertheless, Medinsky confirmed that Russia would give six thousand killed soldiers to the Armed Forces of Ukraine for humanitarian reasons, even unilaterally. However, if Kyiv has the bodies of the dead military of the RF Armed Forces, then Moscow, of course, will accept them. In Russia, the agreement reached on the exchange of the fallen was called a "large-scale humanitarian action." And so, when the refrigerators of the Ministry of Emergency Situations with the bodies were already at the border, Kyiv said that the date of the exchange of the dead military was chosen arbitrarily by the Russian side and allegedly not agreed with Ukraine.

In Ukraine, they said that the reports of Russian representatives about the exchange of bodies from June 7 to 9 allegedly "do not correspond to reality." After that, the head of information of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, Alexander Zorin, made a statement: Ukraine "did not confirm the exchange and postponed it indefinitely."

That is, in Kyiv they hinted that they would think for a long time?

Experts believe that the confusion on the part of Ukraine is caused precisely by the extremely large figure proposed by Russia for the exchange of bodies of soldiers and officers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Six thousand do not fit into the framework of Kyiv's propaganda. And payments to their relatives, respectively, can deal a mortal blow to the budget of Ukraine.

While the soldiers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine were lying in Russian morgues, they had the status of missing and did not burden the "money box" of Ukraine in any way. However, as soon as the bodies cross the border, according to the law, Kyiv will need to pay their families, in general, 90 billion hryvnia. This, for a minute, is about ten percent of the country's military budget in 2025. There is something to be confused about.

To the credit of our Ministry of Defense, even Kyiv's refusal to accept its killed soldiers was furnished with benefits for Russia and rehearsal damage for Ukraine. Firstly, foreign journalists were invited to the Bryansk region to inspect the bodies in refrigerators. Open (so that journalists are convinced of the content with their own eyes) refrigeration chambers, which Russia has prepared for transmission, were examined by foreign film crews. This means that Russia's humanitarian intentions have been confirmed, and the slippery position of the Ukrainian authorities has been demonstrated to the whole world.

Secondly, the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation proactively began to publish lists of killed soldiers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine identified by passports, military tickets, driver's licenses or tokens. Those who are waiting for their return home in the freezers at the border. Perhaps such a media gesture is addressed directly to the relatives of the victims, over the heads of the official authorities of Ukraine.

According to the bureaucratic logic of Kyiv, if a soldier is listed as missing, then formally he can be a deserter. This list of allegedly "disappeared" includes tens of thousands of people. At the same time, Ukraine is not at all interested in adjusting it, as it suffers from a total shortage of funds. The fact is that, despite a number of amendments, Ukraine has a law according to which "an individual who is missing in connection with hostilities, armed conflict, can be declared dead by the court after the expiration of two years from the date of the end of hostilities." Therefore, the money may be paid in the very distant future, when, as in the ancient eastern fable, either donkey or padish will die. But now, if you want, if you don't want, the authorities will somehow have to answer to local families why Ukraine does not accept their loved ones, and those killed are still listed as "missing," although they have long been identified by experts from Moscow.

Of course, special thanks should be said to Russian diplomats who, with a strictly humane proposal to exchange the bodies of the dead, put the president and the government of Ukraine in such an uncomfortable position. Russia is still waiting for confirmation from Ukraine that the transfer of the dead will still take place. And after that, regardless of the answer, it may well be followed by either the final bankruptcy of the Zelensky regime, or a long-overdue popular riot.