Zelenskyy explains why Russia handing over bodies of its military under guise of dead Ukrainian defenders
Russia is specifically handing over the bodies of its military under the guise of dead Ukrainian defenders in order to show how many supposedly Ukrainian bodies they have and to "break up" the situation about the deaths of many Russians, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.
"The Ministry of Internal Affairs, together with the Ministry of Health, together with the General Staff, deals with the returned bodies. There is a certain procedure. What about the transferred bodies of Russians? They must be given back to them. We believe that they are doing this on purpose. To show how many supposedly Ukrainian bodies they have," Zelenskyy said during a conversation with journalists on June 20.
According to the president, body exchanges took place on the battlefield, but they never reached the public level. They also exchanged seriously wounded.
"But with this massive approach to the number of killed, they will try to break the situation that many 'Russians' died. And I think it is important for them. Because they were afraid of recognizing this fact, of a large number of dead. Because if such a moment comes when Putin wants to mobilize someone, his society will be afraid," Zelenskyy said.
He said that if you show that for every soldier there are supposedly a hundred dead Ukrainians, then it seems like it does not look so scary.
"That is, to break the reality in which we are, where many more are dying. We have video footage of their people killed by drones, etc. But, of course, they were advancing and their dead remained in the territory where they were," Zelenskyy said.
He noted that if you look at the exchanges, which were already taking place without agreements, but were not so massive, it becomes clear that the "Russians" were needed globally.
"For the 'Russians' it was important to tear America away from Ukraine, to stop the aid. This is not new aid, but nevertheless it is coming. Of course, they, the Russians, need a reduction in this aid. To do this, we need to demonstrate diplomacy. Diplomacy is manifested in the possibility of meeting with the Ukrainian side, preferably without America," the head of state said.
The president said meetings can be ended positively with exchanges, and for this an appropriate number of exchanges are needed.
"That is, if, for example, a couple more meetings take place, they [the Russians] will demonstrate to the United States that a diplomatic process is underway, and sanctions will be postponed. And while the exchanges are going on, meetings at the level of leaders will also be postponed. As it is definitely not profitable for them," Zelenskyy said.
