On June 9 and 10, Facebook accounts (1, 2, 3, 4) spread the claim that, according to a statement by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, he would only accept the bodies of fallen Ukrainian soldiers from Russia if their families paid 100,000 hryvnias for each. All the posts include the same photo, which is likely a screenshot of a Telegram post.
The claim that Zelenskyy is demanding money from the families of fallen Ukrainian soldiers in exchange for receiving their bodies is unsubstantiated. No media outlet, government agency, or affiliated individual has spread such information. According to representatives of the Ukrainian authorities, they have reached an agreement with Russia on this matter and are prepared to receive the bodies in the near future.
The false claim, shown in the shared screenshot, first appeared on June 8 in a Telegram channel called ИриZонька. No such statement by Zelenskyy can be found in any official source. The mentioned Telegram channel is known for its anti-Ukrainian rhetoric and frequently uses derogatory language in its posts about Ukrainians. On June 7, this Telegram channel claimed that Zelenskyy refused to accept the bodies of fallen fighters, saying, “If he’s dead, he’s dead.”
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What do we know about the handover of fallen soldier bodies?
At the beginning of June, during talks in Istanbul, Ukraine and Russia agreed on a prisoner exchange and the transfer of fallen soldiers’ bodies. The prisoner exchange process began on 9 June and included many wounded, severely wounded, and soldiers under the age of 25. However, the problem arose regarding the bodies of deceased soldiers. According to the Russian side, in accordance with the agreement, they began the handover process of 6,000 bodies and brought over 1,200 bodies in refrigerated trucks to a predetermined location on June 7. However, the Ukrainians did not show up and refused to receive the bodies. In response, the Ukrainians stated that the exchange of prisoners of war and the exchange of the dead are separate processes. This was noted during the talks, and Russia was aware that, according to the agreement, the exchange of bodies was to begin slightly later. Nevertheless, Russia allegedly acted so on purpose to manipulate this issue and discredit Ukraine in the eyes of others. President Zelenskyy also made a similar statement, saying that with such actions, Russia was “trying to play some kind of dirty political and information game.”
As is evident from the statements made, the Ukrainian side, including President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, has not refused to receive the bodies of fallen Ukrainian soldiers, nor has he demanded money from their families in return. It is also worth noting that Ukraine has already received the bodies of fallen soldiers from Russia several times, including this year. From the beginning of the war until February 2025, the number of returned bodies reached 7,017.
Myth Detector has previously fact-checked other manipulative claims on this topic.
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