Ukraine Claims Russia Is Not Returning Alleged POW Bodies from Crashed Plane, According to Reuters

A Ukrainian military intelligence official stated on Tuesday that Russia is unwilling to return the remains of numerous Ukrainian prisoners of war whom Moscow claims perished in a military plane crash in the Belgorod region last week.

Kyiv has criticized Moscow for failing to provide any evidence for its claim that 65 captured Ukrainian soldiers were on the Russian military transport plane that crashed last Wednesday near the Ukrainian border.

Moscow asserts that the plane was shot down by Ukrainian forces en route to a prisoner swap; however, Ukraine has not confirmed or denied this assertion.

“It’s a statement from Russia that our prisoners were there, and so far we can only analyze their words. Currently, there is no readiness to transfer the bodies from the other side,” commented Andriy Yusov, a spokesperson for Ukraine.

Russia’s state Investigative Committee announced last week that they are collecting body parts for genetic analysis. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov indicated on Friday that he had no information regarding the fate of the remains or whether they would be handed over to Ukraine.

The Russian Investigative Committee released footage from the crash site, showing a single body in a snowy field alongside various items of clothing. While the crash site in one of the videos has been verified by news agencies, independent verification of the date or other details is not possible at this time.

Ukraine’s human rights commissioner, Dmytro Lubinets, remarked last week that an unofficial list of Ukrainian POW casualties circulated in Russian media post-crash included names of soldiers who had already been returned in prior exchanges.