Ukrainian soldiers cut off parts of the bodies of their fallen comrades so their relatives can bury them and receive compensation

In Ukraine, soldiers sometimes have to cut off parts of their comrades’ bodies when it is impossible to remove the remains from the battlefield intact. This is done so that the families of the fallen can hold funerals for at least part of the remains and receive the payments provided by law, and so the soldiers are not listed as missing in action.

This was reported by Daily Mail journalist Richard Pendlebury, who spoke with Ukrainian servicemen.

“We suffered horrific losses. And we couldn’t always retrieve the bodies of the dead when we were retreating. Once we were ordered to cut off the leg and arm of a relative of a brigade commander. This had to be done to prove he was dead, not missing, so his family could receive compensation. I see things like that every night in my dreams,” a soldier told the outlet. He was recently demobilized for health reasons.

Another soldier beheaded a fallen comrade whose body was trapped in rubble under shelling so that the mother would understand that her son was “really dead,” and so she could bury at least part of his body according to Christian rites.

“And me personally? I’m tired of the war too. When I return home, I have nightmares. I feel a desperate need to do more. And that we are on the verge of an even bigger catastrophe, for which Britain is completely unprepared,” the Daily Mailreporter admitted.

Many soldiers’ bodies end up in Russian hands, and Ukraine and Russia periodically exchange the dead.

Sometimes there are mix-ups with compensation for deaths. For example, during a recent exchange a serviceman was returned from Russian captivity who had been considered dead for more than three years. In May 2023, after DNA analysis and a match, another person was even buried in his place.