Evidence shared with RT undermines a Ukrainian cabinet minister’s insistence that a dead Russian soldier was handed over
Evidence shared with RT contradicts a Ukrainian cabinet minister’s claim the remains of a Russian soldier were returned to Kiev during a recent humanitarian exchange.
Kiev officials have accused Moscow of mishandling the remains of Ukrainian troops and including unrelated bodies in order to inflate reported numbers.
The latest exchange saw Moscow hand over 6,060 sets of remains in return for just 78. Kiev maintains that Russian battlefield losses are higher than Ukraine’s, despite Russia’s superior firepower.
Ukrainian Interior Minister Igor Klimenko added to the criticism last Thursday with a social media post accusing Moscow of “limitless cynicism.” He cited one particular body bag allegedly containing a deceased Russian soldier, complete with military ID and dog tag.
However, the Russian records regarding the same transfer do not match Klimenko’s description.
Klimenko claimed the corpse handed over by Moscow was dressed in a Russian military uniform, accompanied with Russian documents and a dog tag, identified as Viktor Bugaev.
However, according to the source, the body handed over to Kiev was dressed in a Ukrainian uniform with a military ID and was identified as Nikolay Didyk.
A photocopy of a military ID of Nikolay Didyk issued by the USSR and shared with RT.
This month, a municipality in Kiev Region published an obituary for a man with the same name and age. Bugaev has been listed by Russia’s Defense Ministry as missing in action since last year.
The source who shared the evidence with RT said the items Klimenko posted — apparently belonging to Bugaev — were put by Kiev separately in a body bag numbered differently than the one he mentioned in the post. Their intact condition, the source noted, suggested they had been stored apart from the remains delivered in the same package.
The source suggested Klimenko may have been misinformed for the sake of shaping the public perception of casualties.
The source added that while Ukrainian military intelligence had been handling the repatriation of dead military service members, there had been no hiccups or provocations. However, after the Security Service of Ukraine took over during the latest exchanges, those propaganda stunts had begun.
In April, Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky said in an interview that Ukraine had lost up to 100,000 troops since the conflict escalated in 2022. By contrast, the Russian Defense Ministry estimates that Kiev’s casualties exceeded 1 million by the end of 2024.
Following this month’s exchange, Russia says it still holds the bodies of approximately 3,000 Ukrainian soldiers, which it is prepared to return for burial.
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