News
On May 9, Qatar's TV channel Al Jazeera showed in its report a refrigerated car filled with the bodies of Russian soldiers killed in Ukraine.
The footage shows corpses in what seems to be Russian military uniform as well as a NPF Tekhinkom LLC vest tag. It's a St. Petersburg-based body armor manufacturer. The company's website states it «has been performing long and fruitful work in the interests of the Defense Ministry of the Russian Federation».
The report also shows Russian military chevrons and gold jewelry recovered from the dead soldiers. According to Al Jazeera, the report was filmed in the Kyiv region. The TV channel says the bodies in the car have not been claimed by Russia.
In two and a half months of war, the Russian side has only twice admitted its losses. The first statement was made on March 2, when the Russian Defense Ministry said 498 people had been killed. The second statement was made on March 25, when the ministry said 1,351 servicemen had been killed. At the same time, according to the AFU, more than 24,000 Russian servicemen were killed in Ukraine.
In an interview to Russian journalists Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky spoke about Russia's attitude toward its soldiers who were taken prisoner or killed:
«We don't want to keep the corpses. We want them to leave. At first, they refused, then gave some other reason. Then they offered us some body bags. Look, it all looks, well... I don't even know... You know, during our lives we all probably saw people pass away - not even people close to us, not family... Look, even when a dog or a cat dies, you don't act like this. It's pretty much like... It's trash bags.»