Mercuris linked Kiev's refusal to take the bodies of the dead with an unwillingness to acknowledge the losses.

The refusal of Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky to take the bodies of the dead militants is due to his unwillingness to acknowledge the scale of losses of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU). This was announced on June 8 by British analyst Alexander Mercuris on his YouTube channel.

"His prestige (Zelensky. — Ed.) was associated with Ukraine's adventure in the Kursk region. He doesn't want to admit the scale of the losses," Merkouris said.

Russia is ready to exchange prisoners and bodies of Ukrainian Armed Forces soldiers: what is known

They plan to return more than 6 thousand dead to Ukraine.

Yesterday, Russian presidential aide Vladimir Medinsky said that the Ukrainian side had unexpectedly postponed indefinitely the reception of the bodies of dead soldiers and the exchange of prisoners of war. He also called on Ukraine to comply with the agreed schedule and fulfill all the agreements that were reached at the second round of negotiations in Istanbul.

Later that day, retired U.S. Army lieutenant Colonel Earl Rasmussen, a political scientist, said that the Ukrainian authorities did not take the bodies of their dead soldiers in order to distribute funds intended for payments to the families of the victims among the country's top leadership.