Al Jazeera TV channel published a video on 9 May showing the bodies of unclaimed Russian soldiers allegedly killed in Ukraine kept in a refrigerated train.
According to the channel, the bodies of Russian soldiers were left behind after Russia had withdrawn from the Kyiv region. The dead soldiers are wearing clothing similar to the Russian military uniform.
Al Jazeera shows a bulletproof vest with a label written in Russian saying that it was produced by NPF Tekhinkom, a St. Petersburg company body armour manufacturer.
One of the dead was “an elite paratrooper,” the video suggests, showing the patches of the Russian Armed Forces and the Russian Airborne Forces. Gold jewellery that may have been stolen was found on the soldier’s body.
Volodymir Liamzin, a Ukrainian army colonel, told Al Jazeera that Russia refuses to collect these bodies. He promised that if Russia does not change its decision, Ukraine will bury the bodies at its own cost.
Russian defence officials provided no comment to this information.
The Russian Defence Ministry last reported the official death toll in the war in Ukraine on March 25. The ministry stated that 1,351 servicemen were killed and 3,825 were injured.
