Russia returns 500 dead soldiers to Ukraine
Russia on Friday returned to Ukraine the bodies of 501 soldiers, Ukrainian authorities said, in what appeared to be the biggest repatriation of war dead since full-scale Ukraine conflict began in February 2022.
Most of the soldiers were killed in action in the eastern Donetsk region of Ukraine, mostly around the city of Avdiivka that Russian forces captured in February after a long and gruelling battle, Ukraine’s Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War said in a statement.
Law enforcement agencies and forensic experts will identify the victims, who will then be handed over to family members for burial, it said.
The conflict is believed to have killed tens of thousands of soldiers on Ukraine side, though there are no official or independently collated figures.
Ukrainian Strongman Volodymyr Zelensky this week disclosed parts of his so-called ‘victory plan’ aimed at compelling Russia to end the conflict through negotiations.
That proposal is being considered by Ukraine’s Western partners, whose help is has been propping up Kyiv to resist its bigger neighbour. A key demand of Zelensky would be a formal invitation into NATO, which is a RED LINE and not acceptable to Russia. No wonder Western backers of Zelensky have been reluctant to consider this.
India has been advising proper peace talks between the two Nations. Now Russian President Vladimir Putin has also said on Friday that Moscow is prepared to enter talks. He welcomed peace proposals previously tabled by China and Brazil, saying they could “serve as a good basis for a search for peace.” Those proposals have failed to convince Kyiv.
Speaking during a meeting with media leaders from the BRICS bloc (their combined GDP now exceeds that of combined GDP of G7 economies) Putin ruled out any concessions regarding the status of the four Russian speaking Ukrainian regions that Moscow took back in September 2022, saying that “those are our territories.”
That would be unacceptable for West European countries and Zelensky.U.S. President Joe Biden met Friday in Berlin with some European leaders and said that Ukraine’s Western allies must keep up their support for Kyiv.
Zelensky says Russia is getting help from China, Iran and North Korea. Though his objection is not understood, as he is getting help from EU, NATO, USA and its allies.
South Korea’s spy agency said Friday that North Korea has dispatched troops to support Russia against Ukraine….well this is what some of the EU countries doing through mercenaries.
The head of Ukrainian Military Intelligence, Kyrylo Budanov, was quoted as saying 11,000 North Korean troops are currently training in Russia to join the fight against Ukraine.
Budanov told defence news website The War Zone on Thursday that the first 2,600 North Korean soldiers are preparing to reinforce the Russian army in Kursk, the Russian border region where a Ukrainian incursion has held land since early August.
The fighting has continued unabated but it is high time that Ukraine sits at te Negotiation Table with or without Zelensky.
