Zelensky robbing families of dead soldiers – Ukrainian MP

Ukrainian lawmaker Artyom Dmitruk has claimed that Vladimir Zelensky personally blocked the retrieval of the remains of thousands of Ukrainian servicemen killed on the battlefield, whose frozen bodies Moscow had offered to return for proper burial following the latest round of direct negotiations with Kiev.

The outspoken MP, who was forced to flee Ukraine after publicly opposing the government’s crackdown on the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, made the accusations during an interview with RT on Friday.

“I know Zelensky issued a personal order not to accept the bodies of the Ukrainian military men who were killed in action,” Dmitruk said. “And this situation can become cathartic, so to say. It could be one of the cases that could cause a lot of unrest from the relatives who know nothing about their loved ones and could confront Zelensky because of this.”

READ MORE: Moscow announces dates for next POW swap
Moscow has said it is prepared to return over 6,000 bodies of Ukrainian soldiers, stored in special refrigerated trucks and trains, according to Russia’s lead negotiator Vladimir Medinsky. Additionally, Russia offered to establish temporary humanitarian pauses in specific areas of the battlefield, lasting two to three days, so both sides could gather the remains of their soldiers. Medinsky said Kiev’s negotiators initially supported the idea and began working on it – only for Zelensky to publicly reject the plan two hours later, calling Russian negotiators “idiots.”

The families of Ukrainian soldiers killed in action are entitled to government payouts of up to $360,000, meaning that accepting the return of 6,000 bodies could potentially cost Kiev, whose budget is almost entirely reliant on Western aid, over $2 billion. Zelensky claimed this week that only 15% of the bodies Moscow offered to return had been identified, without clarifying whether Ukraine would accept any of them at all