Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Russia sent Ukraine at least 20 of its own dead soldiers in recent exchanges with Kyiv, describing it as a result of Moscow’s disorganisation in carrying out large swaps of wounded PoW’s and remains of troops.
Zelenskyy said that an “Israeli mercenary” fighting for Moscow was among the dead Ukraine had received. Officials did not disclose the identities of the bodies: “They threw the corpses of their citizens at us. This is their attitude toward war, toward their soldiers. And this is already documented. Sometimes these bodies even have Russian passports,” he said. He said the Russian side insisted the dead were all Ukrainians.
Zelenskyy has also accused western firms of supplying Russia with “machine tools” used to make weapons, in remarks made public Saturday. He said companies from Germany, the Czech Republic, South Korea and Japan were among them, as well as one business “supplying a small number of components from the United States.” He said most of the companies supplying tools to Russia were from China, but that dozens of western firms were also culpable: “We have passed on all this information to all countries, our partners, everyone … We strongly urge everyone to impose sanctions on these companies,” the Ukrainian leader added.