Russia returned Ukrainian soldier's body with grenade planted inside
Photo: Repatriation of the bodies of fallen Ukrainian soldiers (Getty Images)
In Chernivtsi, during the autopsy of the body of a deceased soldier returned from Russia, a grenade was found, according to Viktor Bachynskyi, head of the regional bureau of forensic medical examination.
Read also: Another 1,000 bodies of fallen soldiers returned as Ukraine conducts new repatriation with Russia
The body was transferred from Russia as part of an exchange. When the forensic expert began the autopsy, he found an unexploded grenade under the skin.
The shell entered through the abdominal cavity, passed through the body, and got stuck under the right thigh, but did not explode.
As soon as the grenade was discovered, all personnel were evacuated. Pyrotechnicians were called to the morgue.
"They took it to a training ground and detonated it there, otherwise it could have exploded in the morgue," Bachynskyi says.
Explosives have been found before
According to Bachynskyi, explosives have been found before in bodies returned from Russia, mostly in clothing pockets. But this was the first time a grenade was found inside a body.
Return of the bodies of the deceased: a chronicle of exchanges
The previous exchange took place on February 26, when Ukraine and Russia carried out another round of transferring the bodies of deceased servicemen. During this exchange, the remains of a thousand Ukrainian Defense Forces soldiers were returned to Ukraine. On January 29, Ukraine received another 1,000 bodies of deceased servicemen.
On December 19, the Ukrainian side received more than a thousand bodies. According to the Russian side, all of them belonged to Ukrainian military personnel.
