25 July 2024 , 16:37
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The Russian despot has also been sending hundreds of thousands of his own troops to the meatgrinder
RUSSIA has been accused of stealing and selling the organs of dead Ukrainian prisoners of war.
Corpses of dead soldiers returned by bloody tyrant Vladimir Putin’s forces to Ukraine include those with vital organs harvested, according to sinister new revelations.
Ukrainian soldiers released during a prisoner of war exchange with RussiaCredit: AFP
Ukrainian PoWs on their way back from captivity in RussiaCredit: East2West
An emaciated Gorilyk Roman Vasilyevich after he returned to Ukraine after two years as a Russian PoWCredit: Newsflash
The accusation comes from PoW wife Larysa Salaeva, head of the Freedom to Defenders of Mariupol campaigning group.
She said: “It is already well-known that we receive the bodies of tortured prisoners during body exchanges.
“We receive not only tortured bodies but also bodies, unfortunately, without organs.
“This confirms the fact that the black market for organ transplantation in the Russian Federation is active.
“And, unfortunately, it operates with our prisoners of war.
“Therefore, I believe that this must be made known to the whole world to stop this crime.”
She appealed to Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to support the creation of a medical commission that would monitor the health status of both Ukrainian and Russian PoWs.
Salaeva called on Turkey to act as a mediator to resolve humanitarian issues linked to the return of prisoners of war.
Portrait of Oleksiy, a soldier of the Border Guard Service of Ukraine, who spent two years in captivity and lost 35 kgCredit: Getty
Salaeva, also the mother of a serviceman, told of the appalling state that troops are in when they are returned to Ukraine in PoW swaps.
“We see the state of health in which our boys return,” she said.
“It’s indescribable: they are thin, they need medical help.
“Every time, their health deteriorates in captivity. It’s the third year now.”
More than 10,000 prisoners of war are held by Russia, not all military, according to estimates.
Salaeva claims Russian flouts the Geneva Conventions and humanitarian law.
Another Ukrainian source added: “We want international agreements to be implemented. Nothing is known about the whereabouts of the civilian population, which is a violation of international law."
The last known exchange of bodies was in June when 254 fallen defenders were repatriated to Ukraine.
Russian sources denied the reports of missing organs and accused Ukraine of seeking to “demonise” Putin’s forces.
They said: “The fake is an attempt to arouse a new wave of hatred towards Russia on the part of Ukrainian citizens, thereby hoping to once again motivate volunteers and raise the morale of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.”
It comes just as there is talk of peace negotiations to end the war, said War Against Fakes Telegram channel.
Meanwhile, a UK defence chief warned of how Putin will throw two million troops to the meatgrinder over the next five years just to seize the east of Ukraine.
Army chief General Sir Roly Walker said Moscow would also lose “untold billions” worth of military equipment.
He added that Russia’s dead and wounded would be up to 1.8 million if Putin keeps throwing his men to the slaughter.
But he warned the Kremlin might be willing to absorb eye-watering losses as, “their calculus is different to ours”.
The former SAS-boss said: “In a long war, there are no winners.
“It is an utter devastation for both sides and lost generations.”
The UK estimates Russia has lost 550,000 soldiers, including dead and wounded, since Putin unleashed his full scale invasion in February 2022.
Gen Walker said the toll would triple if Russia continued grinding forward in the southern and eastern provinces of Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, Donetsk and Luhansk.
Captured Russian PoWs in a detention center in Ukraine’s Lviv regionCredit: AP