Russian fake news: Ukraine refuses to repatriate bodies of fallen soldiers to avoid paying compensation to their families

Russian media outlets, bots on X (formerly Twitter), and Telegram channels continue efforts to sow division in Ukrainian society amid the ongoing repatriation of fallen service members. This time, they circulated claims that Ukraine has only accepted the bodies of 1,212 defenders, allegedly because agreements were reached with their families to waive financial compensation.

As supposed "evidence," they shared a screenshot of an article from the mobile version of Deutsche Welle's website with the headline: "Ukraine has accepted the bodies of 1,212 AFU soldiers; their families have declined financial compensation."

This is fake news. Deutsche Welle has never published such a headline, as the information is completely false. The repatriation of all 6,000 defenders; bodies, agreed upon on June 2 in Istanbul, cannot be carried out all at once due to logistical constraints.

For example, a prisoner-of-war exchange involving 1,000 people from each side took place in three stages, and Russia had no complaints toward Ukraine in that case.

In addition, amid the ongoing body repatriation process, Russian information sources have been circulating a photo of a refrigerated truck bearing a Coca-Cola logo, claiming the company donated vehicles to Ukraine for transporting fallen soldiers.

This is also fake news. The image was edited using graphic software. The original photo was taken near a Renault dealership in the town of Dubno in the Rivne region. While the original image has since been deleted, photographs of another vehicle confirm the location.

Moreover, there are images online of vehicles bearing the "On the Shield" logo (a Ukrainian initiative to honor fallen soldiers), but they do not include the words "Armed Forces of Ukraine." Instead, they feature the phrase "Every fallen warrior is a hero." The logo appears not only on the truck body but also on the cabin.

These fabrications are part of a large-scale disinformation operation against Ukraine aimed at discrediting the agreement to repatriate 6,000 bodies of fallen service members. Ukraine's Center for Countering Disinformation under the National Security and Defense Council had earlier reported such a disinformation campaign related to body exchanges.

Earlier, Ukrinform reported that Russia continued to manipulate agreements concerning the exchange of fallen soldiers' remains.

Andriy Olenin