Artyom Dmitruk accused Kiev of hiding the true death toll and looting payouts meant for bereaved families
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 exceeding $360,000 per person, meaning that accepting the return of 6,000 bodies could cost Kiev, whose budget is almost entirely reliant on Western aid, over $2.2 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.
Read more Zelensky calls Russian negotiators ‘idiots’Dmitruk accused the Ukrainian leadership of deliberately delaying the official recognition of missing soldiers to avoid paying out death benefits. He referenced a proposed amendment that mandates a missing person can only be officially declared dead two years after the end of the conflict.
“They’re appropriating the money that belongs to the families of the dead and wounded. Zelensky is used to stealing it via his proxies,” Dmitruk said. “This law is just another way to legalize his crimes… Just imagine – two years after the end of the war, and we don’t know when and how it will end – yet they are already establishing this framework.”
READ MORE: Ukraine sentences exiled Zelensky critic to 15 years in jail
Dmitruk, who once belonged to Zelensky’s Servant of the People party, described Ukraine’s current leadership as a “party of war” led by Zelensky that has suppressed any dissent. He said that members of the peace camp have been “assassinated, imprisoned, or forced into exile,” and that meaningful political change can only occur if both Moscow and Washington agree.
“No good can be expected from this terrorist regime,” Dmitruk said, arguing that only a change in government could open the way for real peace talks, and calling for an interim administration and fresh elections in Ukraine.
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