Bodies Of Dead Russian Soldiers Abandoned In Ukraine, Used As ‘Cannon Fodder’

Russia treated its soldiers in Ukraine as "cannon fodder" and abandoned their dead bodies in former fields of battle, according to the Ukrainian military.

The remains of Russian troops are still being discovered in and around the villages near the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv weeks after they failed to seize the city, the BBC reported.

Russia shows little interest in recovering the corpses, according to Ukraine.

"The bodies we've found show they treat people as rubbish, as cannon fodder. They don't need their soldiers. They throw them here, retreat - and leave the bodies," Col. Volodymyr Liamzin of the Ukrainian Army told the BBC.

Among the Russian dead was a young, married soldier from Siberia, whose body was found in a grave in the woods of Zavalivka, a village located west of Kyiv, the outlet said.

A Ukrainian military team removed his corpse and loaded it into a refrigerated train on the outskirts of the city that now operates as a mobile morgue for dead Russians.

"At least this one has a chance of getting home," the man in charge of the operation said while displaying two bank cards as well as badges for a Russian motorized rifle brigade that were recovered with the body.

It was unclear how the soldier from Siberia ended up in a grave in Zavalivka, but villagers assumed he was injured and got lost as his unit was forced to retreat.

By the first week of April, Russia had completely pulled back its troops from Kyiv following a failed assault on the Ukrainian capital.

Russian troops, many of whom were apparently young and inexperienced, fled under fire.

Russia initially provided Ukraine a shortlist of dead soldiers it wanted returned after the retreat, which resulted in a successful swap, according to Liamzin.

However, subsequent exchange requests were allegedly met with no replies.

"We're ready to give them all back, we want our own dead returned too. We knock on every door there is, but there is no response, no dialogue," Liamzin said.

Russia has suffered around 29,600 combat losses among its personnel between the start of its invasion on Feb. 24 and Thursday, Ukraine's Ministry of Defence said in its most recent casualty report.

Families of Russian soldiers who have gone missing in the war have turned to the Ukrainian hotline "Come Back Alive" to search for their relatives.