Russia commits blatant violations in storing bodies of dead Ukrainian soldiers, – Denisova

According to Denisova, disrespecting the enemy’s body is a war crime.

Russia does not properly preserve the bodies of Ukrainian soldiers who died in the war – some of them arrive burned, mutilated. Also, body parts may be in different bags. Lyudmila Denisova, head of the Ukrainian Center for Human Rights, told this on the air of “KYIV24” .

According to her, the Russians do not adhere to the Geneva Conventions and do not keep bodies in special refrigerators, which then makes identification much more difficult.

“I myself conducted negotiations on the return of the bodies – it is very difficult to work with the Russian Federation because there is no direct dialogue at all. That is, they negotiate something through someone, stall for time, and this then solves the issue of identification,” Denisova said.

She explained that according to the relevant norms, bodies must be stored in certain conditions. In particular, she was asked about the conditions in which the enemy stores the bodies of Ukrainians, and in what condition the dead are returned.

“It all depends on when our serviceman was killed or died. This is time. And the Russian Federation does not store (the bodies – UNIAN) in appropriate refrigerators… The Geneva Conventions and additional protocols to them oblige parties to an international military conflict to respect the bodies. To store them or quickly transfer them. And this failure to comply with International Humanitarian Law, precisely these obligations of the Geneva Convention, is a war crime,” Denisova emphasized.

She noted that Russia constantly violates the aforementioned conventions, and various international organizations, including Ukraine, record such facts. The head of the center said that she had negotiated the return of 8 bodies of very famous military personnel.Read also:

“They were all burned. And when they sent me these photos for confirmation, well, it’s impossible… It’s better for the family to remember a person alive than the way they (the Russians – UNIAN) will hand them over. It’s very difficult. Sometimes they just collect bags from the battlefield… It depends on what kind of shelling there was, it could be a mine explosion – that is, pieces of bodies could be in different bags,” she states.

Body exchange between Ukraine and Russia – important news

As UNIAN reported, on June 2, at talks in Istanbul (Turkey), the Ukrainian and Russian delegations agreed on a new exchange of prisoners of war and the return of the bodies of fallen soldiers. The agreement was to return 6,000 bodies of fallen soldiers in exchange for a similar number. In June, bodies that the Russian Federation claims belong to Ukrainian soldiers were returned to Ukraine in several stages. However, the Ministry of Internal Affairs later announced that the remains of Russian soldiers were found among the repatriated bodies .

On August 19, 1,000 bodies were repatriated , which, according to the Russian side, belong to Ukrainian servicemen. Among them were 5 bodies of Ukrainian soldiers who died in captivity. They were on the lists of “seriously wounded and seriously ill” prisoners who were supposed to be exchanged, according to the agreements in Istanbul during the second round of negotiations.

(c)UNIAN 2025