Ukraine Defense Ministry Trolls Russia Over Body Bags After Invaders Hit 45,000 War Deaths

Ukraine's Ministry of Defense on Sunday mocked Russia for purchasing thousands of body bags for Ukrainians at the start of the war, arguing that Moscow now needs those bags for its soldiers as the military death toll surpasses 45,000.

On Feb. 23, a day before the Russian invasion, Roman Dudin, the head of the Security Service of Ukraine's directorate in the Kharkiv region, reported that Moscow purchased 45,000 body bags to bury Ukrainian soldiers they would kill in the then-forthcoming war.

"At the same time, I think that according to the ancient Russian tradition, they will bury them just in the field or in these nameless graves," Dudin had said at a meeting in the regional state administration, as quoted by Ukrinform.

On Sunday, the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine posted a combat report where it put the Russian military death toll at 45,200 after nearly six months into the invasion. The Defense Ministry later took to Twitter to suggest that the Russian forces now need the body bags to bury their own dead.

"In February, [Russia] prepared a parade in advance & purchased 45,000 body bags for the 1st wave of ethnic cleansing in occupied Ukraine. In August, Russians realized that they would need those bags for themselves," the Defense Ministry said in a tweet. "Don't buy a body bag for your neighbor, because you will go home in it."

The Defense Ministry's tweet comes as Ukraine makes steady progress in its counteroffensive operation in temporarily occupied territories in the country's southern regions. On Sunday, the Armed Forces of Ukraine successfully targeted and destroyed a Russian ammunition depot near the village of Chornobaivka in Kherson Oblast.

The Ukrainian army also said that it created "fireworks" at a bridge in the city of Kakhova. The bridge had just been restored by the Russian military after it was initially destroyed by Ukraine's armed forces. The Kakhova bridge was being used by Russia to transport military equipment to its troops located across the Nova Kakhova dam.

Last week, Ukraine also targeted a Russian ammunition depot at a military base in the annexed Crimean peninsula as part of Kyiv's effort to destroy Moscow's supply lines.