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Topics: World News, Russia, Ukraine, Vladimir Putin, no-article-matching
Shola Lee
Topics: World News, Russia, Ukraine, Vladimir Putin, no-article-matching
Officials in Ukraine have claimed that around 7,000 dead Russian soldiers have been left unclaimed in morgues across the country.
Presidential administration adviser Oleksiy Arestovych, said that along with the around 7,000 corpses, the government had a figure that around 18,600 Russians had died, as based on reports from military communications.
Arestovych told of how Ukraine tried to return 3,000 of the dead bodies, but that the Russian side was 'not ready to accept them.'
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Speaking to The Washington Post, Arestovych said: "We don’t believe in such quantities. We don’t have this number. We’re not ready to accept them.’"
While Arestovych said the transfer was proposed multiple times he added: 'they won’t discuss this at all yet'.
In response to this, the Ministry of Internal Affairs in Ukraine are said to have set up an online platform and Telegram channel where Russians can search through photos of those dead or imprisoned, as well as request information on their family members.
With Ukrainian residents helping collect Russian corpses, with Yevheni Velichko, mayor of Voznesensk in Southern Ukraine saying: "Russian or not Russian, we treated the bodies with dignity."
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On 13 April, Mykhailo Lysenko, the deputy mayor of Dnipro, Ukraine's fourth largest city, said that more than 1,500 dead soldiers were being held in the area.
Reports of the dead soldiers come as a security expert claimed that the number Russian soldiers lost in the last six weeks in Ukraine, was the same as those lost over 10 years in Afghanistan.
The BBC's security correspondent Frank Gardner made the claim and warned that Vladimir Putin's invasion could continue for a while yet.
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"The amount of Russian troops killed in Ukraine is the same as the amount lost in ten years of fighting in Afghanistan," Gardner said.
In the war so far, Putin has put a large amount of force behind his invasion, but this has been met with quick responses and strict sanctions from Western countries.
With Gardner continuing to say: "[Putin] has basically brought NATO and the West together as never before.”
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“[Russia’s] economy is buckling under the sanctions.
“[Russia] has taken some ground, but they have been pushed back at the north of Ukraine.
“When we say that Russian troops are withdrawing from the north, it because they have lost the north against the Ukrainians.”
Despite the Russian economy struggling to cope, there isn't room for complacency, as Gardner went on to note that the military action is far from over.
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If you would like to donate to the Red Cross Emergency Appeal, which will help provide food, medicines and basic medical supplies, shelter and water to those in Ukraine, click here for more information