Russia Treats Its Dead Soldiers Worse Than A 'Dog Or Cat': Zelensky

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Sunday slammed Russia for its handling of dead Russian soldiers, adding that the fallen servicemen were treated worse than animals.

The Ukrainian president’s comments came during a 90-minute Zoom interview with four prominent journalists from Russia. In the interview, Zelensky accused Kremlin of disregard for the lives of Ukrainians and Russians. He added that Russian troops had refused to pick up the bodies of its own soldiers who were killed during the war.

"They first refused, then offered us some bags... It all looks like... You know, even when a dog or a cat dies, people don't do so. These are garbage bags. I don't understand what people think, what the parents of these children think," Zelensky said in the interview, a news release from the president’s office noted.

"It's not cattle. And why is it dreadful? Because if this is the attitude towards their own people, then what is the attitude towards everyone else?"

On Sunday, Zelensky also said he is willing to compromise with Russia on the Donbas region and have his country adopt a neutral status so long as Russian troops withdraw from Ukraine.

"Security guarantees and neutrality, non-nuclear status of our state — we are ready to go for it," he said, declining to offer more details of the plan.

Hours after Zelensky spoke with the journalists, Roskomnadzor — Russia’s communications regulator and Internet censor — published a statement banning Russian media outlets from publishing the interview. The agency added that it has since launched an investigation into the outlets that conducted the interview "to determine the extent of responsibility and the taking of measures of response," The Washington Post reported.

The journalists included in the interview were Ivan Kopakov, editor of Latvia-based Russia-language news website Meduza; Vladimir Solovyov, a reporter for Moscow-based newspaper Kommersant; Mikhail Zygar, an independent Russian journalist who fled to Berlin at the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine; and Tikhon Dzyadko, editor of independent television channel TV Rain. The channel has been temporarily shuttered following President Vladimir Putin’s ban on coverage of the war. Dzyadko has fled Moscow for Georgia.

Media outlets operating in Russia that continue to publish news calling the invasion an “invasion” or “war” may face up to a 15-year prison sentence.