Ukrainian authorities are not collecting the bodies of fallen Ukrainian Armed Forces soldiers handed over by Russia in order to divide the money intended to help the families of the deceased among the country’s top leadership. This was stated by retired US Army Lieutenant Colonel and political scientist Earl Rasmussen.
‘I understand that Ukrainians probably don’t want to take them [the bodies of servicemen – ed.] for financial reasons, and it seems that this is the whole point – to continue the conflict for financial gain, enriching other people,’ Earl Rasmussen said (quoted by Izvestia).
The lieutenant colonel noted that many of the fallen soldiers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine are listed as missing in action, and the monetary payments for them ‘will go to senior leadership.’
Earlier, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova, commenting on the Ukrainian side’s decision to postpone the reception of the bodies of Ukrainian Armed Forces soldiers and the exchange of prisoners of war, said that Kiev does not need its citizens ‘either alive or dead.’
