The corpses of Russian soldiers killed in Ukraine are being moved from Belarus back to Russia by train and planes in the dead of night to avoid attracting attention, it has emerged.
Video posted by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty shows military ambulances driving through the Belarusian city of Homel in early March, with employees at the region’s clinical hospital claiming more than 2,500 bodies have already been shipped back to Russia as of March 13.
Ukraine’s military says that more than 14,000 Kremlin troops have been killed since the Russian invasion on February 24, while one US intelligence estimate has put the number at around 7,000. Moscow’s Defence Ministry says that less than 500 soldiers have been killed.
Now Belarusian medical staff in Homel, in southeastern Belarus, have described ‘overflowing’ morgues, with one resident of the city Mazyr claiming: ‘Passengers at the Mazyr train station were shocked by the number of corpses being loaded on the train. After people started shooting video, the military caught them and ordered them to remove it.’
A doctor at Mazyr’s main city hospital warned: ‘There are not enough surgeons. Earlier, the corpses were transported by ambulances and loaded on Russian trains. After someone made a video about it and it went on the Internet, the bodies were loaded at night so as not to attract attention.’
Officials at Hospital No4 in Homel are alleged to have begun discharging current patients on March 1 because of the sheer number of wounded Russian soldiers to treat.
One resident who was treated in the hospital said: ‘There are so many wounded Russians there – it’s just a horror. Terribly disfigured. It is impossible to listen to their moans throughout the whole hospital.’
Another doctor described growing concern among locals that there could be a shortage of everyday medication and of ‘problems with anti-tetanus drugs’. Tetanus is a common ailment afflicting soldiers suffering from shrapnel and bullet wounds.
Homel borders Russia to the east and Ukraine to the south. The city of Homel is Belarus’ largest after Minsk, and a major hub for trade and transport. The country’s despot Alexander Lukashenko supports Putin’s war and allowed a deployment of major Russian military units in the country. An unknown number of Russian troops moved south towards Ukraine’s capital Kyiv from Homel.
The corpses of Russian soldiers killed in Ukraine are being moved from Belarus back to Russia by train and planes in the dead of night to avoid attracting attention, it has emerged
Video posted by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty shows military ambulances driving through the Belarusian city of Homel, with employees at the region’s clinical hospital alleging more than 2,500 bodies have been shipped back to Russia
According to one US intelligence estimate, 7,000 Russian troops including four generals have already been killed – more than the number of American troops killed in either the Iraq or Afghanistan wars at 4,825 and 3,576 respectively – and between 14,000 and 21,000 troops have been injured in the fighting. The estimated Russian death toll is of a scale similar to that of the Battle of Iwo Jima, where 6,852 US troops were killed and 19,000 were wounded during five weeks of fighting Japanese forces in the most intense phase of the Pacific theatre of World War Two
Ukraine’s military claims Russia has lost 466 tanks, 115 helicopters, 914 vehicles, 95 aircraft, 213 artillery systems, 44 anti-aircraft weapons and 60 fuel tanks. The information could not be independently verified
Putin attends a concert marking the eighth anniversary of the annexation of Crimea at the Luzhniki stadium in Moscow
Apartments damaged by shelling, in Kharkiv, Ukraine, March 13, 2022
Russia unleashed its ‘unstoppable’ Kinzhal hypersonic missiles for the first time in Ukraine, the defence ministry said today, destroying a weapons storage site in the country’s west on Friday. Pictured: An injured woman looks on as she receives medical treatment after shelling in a residential area in Kyiv on March 18, 2022
More than 1,300 people including women and babies are still feared trapped in the bombed ruins of a theatre in the besieged city of Mariupol (pictured)
Ukrainian policemen secure the area by a residential building that partially collapsed after a shelling in Kyiv, March 18, 2022
Cars drive past a destroyed Russian tank as a convoy of vehicles evacuating civilians leaves Irpin, March 9, 2022
Ukraine and the West claim that Russia’s invasion is floundering in part due to fierce Ukrainian resistance, poor planning and low morale among Russian forces. According to one US intelligence estimate, 7,000 Russian troops including four generals have already been killed – more than the number of American troops killed in either the Iraq or Afghanistan wars at 4,825 and 3,576 respectively – and between 14,000 and 21,000 troops have been injured in the fighting.
The estimated Russian death toll is of a scale similar to that of the Battle of Iwo Jima, where 6,852 US troops were killed and 19,000 were wounded during five weeks of fighting Japanese forces in the most intense phase of the Pacific theatre of World War Two.
Ukraine’s military has also suffered heavy losses, likely to be much higher than the 1,300 troops which Kyiv has confirmed as killed.
According to Ukraine’s military, Russia has lost 466 tanks, 115 helicopters, 914 vehicles, 95 aircraft, 213 artillery systems, 44 anti-aircraft weapons and 60 fuel tanks. Russia has not responded to Kyiv’s latest estimates, and the information could not be independently verified.
It comes as Russia used its latest hypersonic missile for the first time during its attack on Ukraine, a military spokesman said.
Russian Defence Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said the hypersonic missiles, known as Kinzhal, destroyed an underground warehouse storing missiles and aviation ammunition of Ukrainian troops in the western Ivano-Frankivsk region.
Konashenkov also said the Russian forces used the anti-ship missile system Bastion to strike Ukrainian military facilities near the Black Sea port of Odesa.
Russia first used the weapon during its military campaign in Syria in 2016.
Ukrainian officials said hospitals, schools and buildings where people sought safety have been attacked.
Ludmyla Denisova, the Ukrainian Parliament’s human rights commissioner, said at least 130 people had survived Wednesday’s bombing of a Mariupol theatre that was being used a shelter.
‘But according to our data, there are still more than 1,300 people in these basements, in this bomb shelter,’ Denisova told Ukrainian television. ‘We pray that they will all be alive, but so far there is no information about them.’
Satellite images on Friday from Maxar Technologies showed a long line of cars leaving Mariupol as people tried to evacuate.
One person was reported killed in a missile attack near Lviv, the closest strike yet to the city’s centre. Satellite photos showed the strike destroyed a repair hangar and appeared to damage two other buildings.
Ukraine said it shot down two of six missiles in the volley, which came from the Black Sea.
Lviv has become a crossroads for people fleeing from other parts of Ukraine and for others entering to deliver aid or join the fight, with its population swelling by some 200,000.
Early morning barrages that hit a residential building in the Podil neighbourhood of Kyiv killed at least one person. Emergency services said 98 people were evacuated from the building and Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said 19 were wounded.
Ukrainian officials said a fireman was also killed when Russian forces shelled an area where firefighters were trying to put out a blaze in the village of Nataevka, in the Zaporizhzhia region.
Two others were killed when strikes hit residential and administrative buildings in the eastern city of Kramatorsk, according to the regional governor, Pavlo Kyrylenko.
Major General Oleksandr Pavlyuk, who is leading the defence of the region around Ukraine’s capital, said his forces are well-positioned to defend the city and vowed: ‘We will never give up. We will fight until the end. To the last breath and to the last bullet.’
Russian troops have continued to pound the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, and launched a barrage of missiles against an aircraft repair installation at an airport on the outskirts of the western city of Lviv, close to the Polish border. One person was reported wounded.
Satellite photos showed the strike destroyed a repair hangar and appeared to damage two other buildings. A row of fighter jets appeared intact, but an apparent impact crater sat in front of them.
Damaged civil settlement is seen after Russian shelling in Kyiv, Ukraine, March 18, 2022
People get upset after Russian shelling destroyed their homes in Kyiv, Ukraine, March 18, 2022
Handout image shows an apartment building after a rocket strike in Kramatorsk, Donetsk Oblast, March 18, 2022
Residents are seen on the street after emerging from bomb shelters, gathering their belongings as they prepare to flee the city
109 empty baby carriages on display in Lviv city center for the 109 babies killed so far during Russia’s invasion of Ukraine
Pictured: A video screen grab showing a test of the Kh-47M2 Kinzhal, dubbed ‘an ideal weapon’ by Vladimir Putin (file photo)
The missile can carry both conventional weapons and nuclear warheads, and can be launched from fighter jets – including Tu-22M3 bombers or MiG-31K interceptors. Pictured: The missile is seen being carried by a MiG-31K during a fly-over of Moscow’s Red Square in 2018
Ukraine said it had shot down two of six missiles in the volley, which came from the Black Sea.
The early morning barrage of missiles on Lviv’s edge was the closest strike yet to the centre of the city, which has become a crossroads for people fleeing from other parts of Ukraine and for others entering to deliver aid or fight.
In city after city around Ukraine, hospitals, schools and buildings where people sought safety have been attacked. Rescue workers were still searching for survivors in the ruins of a theatre that served as a shelter when it was blasted by a Russian airstrike on Wednesday in the besieged southern city of Mariupol.
Ludmyla Denisova, the Ukrainain parliament’s human rights commissioner, said on Friday that 130 people had survived the theatre bombing.
‘As of now, we know that 130 people have been evacuated, but according to our data, there are still more than 1,300 people in these basements, in this bomb shelter,’ Denisova told Ukrainian television. ‘We pray that they will all be alive, but so far there is no information about them.’
At Lviv, black smoke billowed for hours after the explosions, which hit a facility for repairing military aircraft near the city’s international airport, only four miles from the centre. One person was wounded, the regional governor, Maksym Kozytsky, said.
Multiple blasts hit in quick succession around 6am, shaking nearby buildings, witnesses said. The missiles were launched from the Black Sea, but the Ukrainian air force’s western command said it had shot down two of six missiles in the volley. A bus repair facility was also damaged, Lviv’s mayor, Andriy Sadovyi, said.
Lviv lies not far from the Polish border and well behind the front lines, but it and the surrounding area have not been spared Russia’s attacks. In the worst, nearly three dozen people were killed last weekend in a strike on a training facility near the city.
Lviv’s population has swelled by some 200,000 as people from elsewhere in Ukraine have sought shelter there.
Early morning barrages also hit a residential building in the Podil neighborhood of Kyiv, killing at least one person, according to emergency services, who said 98 people were evacuated from the building. Kyiv mayor, Vitali Klitschko, said 19 were wounded in the shelling.
Two others were killed when strikes hit residential and administrative buildings in the eastern city of Kramatorsk, according to the regional governor, Pavlo Kyrylenko.
Putin spoke in front of a crowd tens of thousands strong at the Luzhniki World Cup stadium in Moscow, one of the few times he has been seen in public since launching his invasion 23 days ago
Putin called the rally to mark the eighth anniversary of ‘annexing’ Crimea, speaking of ‘de-Nazifying’ the peninsula and of debunked claims of ‘genocide’ in the Donbass
People get upset after Russian shelling destroyed their homes in Kyiv, Ukraine, March 18, 2022
Ukrainian local residents collect their belongings from their apartment in a residential building after it was hit by the debris of a rocket in Shuliavka, Solomyanskiy district in Kyiv, March 18, 2022
An Ukrainian local resident walks by the debris of a missile explosion in Lukianivska in Kyiv, March 18, 2022
Ukrainian local residents collect their belongings from their apartment in a residential building after it was hit by the debris of a rocket in Shuliavka, Solomyanskiy district in Kyiv, March 18, 2022
In Kharkiv, a massive fire raged through a local market after shelling on Thursday. One firefighter was killed and another injured when new shelling hit as emergency workers fought the blaze, emergency services said.
The World Health Organisation said it has verified 43 attacks on hospitals and health facilities, with 12 people killed and 34 injured.
US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, said on Thursday that American officials were evaluating potential war crimes and that if the intentional targeting of civilians by Russia is confirmed, there will be ‘massive consequences’.
The United Nations political chief, undersecretary-general, Rosemary DiCarlo, also called for an investigation into civilian casualties, reminding the UN Security Council that international humanitarian law bans direct attacks on civilians.
She said many of the daily attacks battering Ukrainian cities ‘are reportedly indiscriminate’ and involve the use of ‘explosive weapons with a wide impact area’. DiCarlo said the devastation in Mariupol and Kharkiv ‘raises grave fears about the fate of millions of residents of Kyiv and other cities facing intensifying attacks’.
Hundreds of civilians were said to have taken shelter in a grand, columned theatre in the city’s centre when it was hit on Wednesday by a Russian airstrike. On Friday, their fate was still uncertain, with conflicting reports on whether anyone had emerged from the rubble. Communications are disrupted across the city and movement is difficult because of shelling and fighting.
‘We hope and we think that some people who stayed in the shelter under the theatre could survive,’ Petro Andrushchenko, an official with the mayor’s office, told the Associated Press on Thursday. He said the building had a relatively modern, basement bomb shelter designed to withstand airstrikes. Other officials said earlier that some people had gotten out.
Video and photos provided by the Ukrainian military showed the at least three-story building had been reduced to a roofless shell, with some exterior walls collapsed. Satellite imagery on Monday from Maxar Technologies showed huge white letters on the pavement outside the theatre spelling out ‘CHILDREN’ in Russian to alert warplanes to the vulnerable people hiding inside.
Russia’s military denied bombing the theatre or anyplace else in Mariupol on Wednesday.
In Chernihiv, at least 53 people were brought to morgues over 24 hours, killed amid heavy Russian air attacks and ground fire, the local governor, Viacheslav Chaus, told Ukrainian TV on Thursday.
Ukraine’s emergency services said a mother, father and three of their children, including three-year-old twins, were killed when a Chernihiv hostel was shelled. Civilians were hiding in basements and shelters across the embattled city of 280,000.
‘The city has never known such nightmarish, colossal losses and destruction,’ Chaus said.
Ukraine’s comic-turned-wartime leader Volodymyr Zelensky said early on Friday he was thankful to President Joe Biden for additional military aid, but he would not get into specifics about the new package, saying he did not want Russia to know what to expect.
He said when the invasion began on February 24, Russia expected to find Ukraine much as it did in 2014, when Russia seized Crimea without a fight and backed separatists as they took control of the eastern Donbas region.
Instead, he said, Ukraine had much stronger defences than expected, and Russia ‘didn’t know what we had for defence or how we prepared to meet the blow’.
In a joint statement, the foreign ministers of the Group of Seven leading economies accused Putin of conducting an ‘unprovoked and shameful war’, and called on Russia to comply with the International Court of Justice=’s order to stop its attack and withdraw its forces.
Both Ukraine and Russia this week reported some progress in negotiations. Zelensky said he would not reveal Ukraine’s negotiating tactics.
‘Working more in silence than on television, radio or on Facebook,’ Zelensky said. ‘I consider it the right way.’
Putin spoke by phone on Friday with German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, who urged the Russian president to agree to an immediate cease-fire and called for an improvement to the humanitarian situation, a spokesman for Scholz said.
In a statement about the call, the Kremlin said Putin told the German chancellor that Ukraine had ‘unrealistic proposals’ and was dragging out negotiations. The Kremlin also said it was evacuating civilians, and accused Ukraine of committing war crimes by shelling cities in the east.
While details of Thursday’s talks were unknown, an official in Zelensky’s office told the AP that on Wednesday, the main subject discussed was whether Russian troops would remain in separatist regions in eastern Ukraine after the war and where the borders would be.
The official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive talks, said Ukraine was insisting on the inclusion of one or more Western nuclear powers in the negotiations and on legally binding security guarantees for Ukraine.
In exchange, the official said, Ukraine was ready to discuss a neutral military status.
Russia has demanded that NATO pledge never to admit Ukraine to the alliance or station forces there.
The fighting has led more than 3million people to flee Ukraine, the UN estimates. The death toll remains unknown, though Ukraine has said thousands of civilians have died.
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