Ukraine Gov't Receives 32,000 Inquiries From Missing Russian Soldiers' Families

Families of Russian soldiers with whom contact has been lost are apparently more comfortable asking Ukrainian authorities about them than they are their own government. 

Through a hotline and a Telegram chatbot, Ukraine has received 32,000 inquiries from Russian families so far. There are 7,000 unclaimed bodies of Russian soldiers in Ukrainian morgues, which is part of the problem, but there are also reports that Russian authorities do not like to report soldiers and sailors as captured, missing or presumed dead because they dont want to anger Putin and because they then do not have to pay out the death settlements the families are owed. JL 

Ukrinform report:

The Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine has received 32,000 appeals in which the relatives of Russian soldiers who had gone missing in the war with Ukraine ask about their fate. "We received about 12,000 appeals to our hotline, which had been set up exactly for Russian citizens, and more than 20,000 appeals filed through a chatbot set up on Telegram." The Russians were filing contact information of their loved ones – husbands and sons who went into Ukraine as part of the invasion forces – with whom they had lost contact. When they asked the relatives of these missing Russian servicemen why they don't ask their own authorities, they reply by saying they are being lied to.

The Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine has already received a total of about 32,000 appeals in which the relatives of Russian soldiers who had gone missing in the war with Ukraine ask about their fate.

That’s according to Viktor Andrusiv, the adviser to the Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine, who spoke on Channel 24, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

"I would not say that this is such a mass phenomenon at the moment (for relatives of Russian soldiers to send such inquiries). Indeed, they were filed en masse in early March, and now it is a routine thing. Indeed, we received about 12,000 appeals, perhaps even more, to our hotline, which had been set up exactly for Russian citizens, and more than 20,000 appeals filed through a chatbot set up on Telegram,” Andrusiv clarified.

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Asked what the Russians wanted from the Ukrainian authorities, the official said that they were filing contact information of their loved ones – husbands and sons who went into Ukraine as part of the invasion forces – with whom they had lost contact.

They asked the relatives of these missing Russian servicemen why they don't ask their own authorities the same questions, to which they reply by saying that they are being lied to. Andrusiv continued by stating that given the number of appeals, he believes that this concept is increasing quite strongly in Russia, according to Ukrinform.