Ukraine Collects Bodies Of Russian Soldiers For Exchange Of Prisoners Of War, Transported In Specially Refrigerated Carriages

Illustrations of the tent of Russia and the country of Ukraine. (Wikimedia Commons / mvs.gov.ua / Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine)

JAKARTA - Ukraine is collecting the bodies of slain Russian soldiers strewn among the rubble of a formerly occupied city, using everything from DNA to tattoos to verify their identities in hopes of being exchanged for prisoners of war.

Volunteers have helped the military collect 60 bodies in the northeastern region of Kharkiv, where Russian troops have withdrawn in recent weeks, piling them in refrigerated train cars.

Bodies are sometimes used as part of prisoner swaps and sometimes as exchange for Ukrainian corpses, said Anton Ivannikov, captain of the civil-military cooperation branch of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, which is coordinating the effort.

That said, the bodies of people related to high-ranking officials could be very valuable for exchange.

"We collect all the documents, all the credit cards. Anything that will help us identify the body including tattoos and DNA," said Ivannikov, as reported by Reuters May 25.

"In the future it will tell us which soldiers, which brigades are in this region, for further exchanges," he continued.

Ivannikkov further explained, the bodies will travel by train to Kyiv where the exchange negotiating team is based.

Recovery efforts have been made possible as Ukraine pushed Russian troops out of towns in the Kharkiv region, with most of the artillery out of reach of the city of Kharkiv, the country's second largest city.

At a recent recovery effort in the village of Mala Rohan, just east of the city of Kharkiv, Reuters witnessed volunteers using ropes to remove the bodies of two Russian soldiers from a well among houses badly damaged by the shelling.

At least one of the two was hand tied, a sign, Ivannikov said, that they may have been convicted of defectors. Reuters was unable to verify the circumstances of any of the deaths.

Two volunteers wrapped the bodies in white plastic sheeting and carried them into the waiting ambulance.

Volunteers dug up another body from a shallow grave marked with a makeshift cardboard sign, reading 'Russian inhabitants buried here' with the soldier's name and burial date.

The fourth body, one of 12 found in the village over three days, was pulled from the crypt of a woman's home. He was left alone when his comrades withdrew, Ivannikov said.

"Most likely, he shot himself," he said.

Russia's Defense Ministry did not respond to requests for comment on allegations Russian soldiers might be shot for desertion, or whether they would consider exchanging bodies for Ukrainian prisoners of war.

While the Ukrainian military recovered bodies in the vicinity of Kharkiv, some 240 km (149 miles) to the southeast, its troops were holding out against intense attacks in the Donbas region of Eastern Ukraine.

Moscow described its actions as a "special operation" to disarm its neighbors on February 24. Meanwhile, Kyiv said it had never threatened Russia in any way and said the attack was completely unprovoked.