Horrific video footage reported to show dozens of disfigured bodies of dead Russian soldiers who "have been sent to die" in the invasion of Ukraine, has been shared online.
A Ukrainian YouTuber has put the video on his Telegram channel as he claims to try and show Russians how the battle in Ukraine is really going with the corpses which are being kept in mobile morgues.
Russians are used to hearing positive information from the invasion of Ukraine on patriotic state television and are lapping up Vladimir Putin's rhetoric that Russian speaking people in their neighbouring country are being victimised.
Putin is saying that the war in Ukraine is a success and so the video is intended to show parents a different story when their sons go off to fight.
There are white bags piled close together in the clips, kept in mobile morgues where specialists examine the dead for clues about their identities, so they can be returned later to grieving relatives.
In this unit alone, there are 50 corpses, and there are many such “refrigeration wagons” used to preserve Russian servicemen slain in a war started by Putin to “deNazify” Ukraine.
“This video is recorded for those who say that there are very few dead, or practically none,” said Ukrainian YouTuber Volodymyr Zolkin on a Telegram channel.
“Here you see ... these are the refrigerators, and there are many, many of them. Every day multiple people work with the corpses, with dead Russian army soldiers.”
An aim of the broadcast is to reach Russian people to show them the scale of the losses in Ukraine, which have been hidden by a state-controlled media in Moscow.
Some scenes include badly dismembered or mutilated bodies from fighting in the war.
“Tattoos and notebooks are found which [later] will help relatives identify the dead if they wish to do so,” said Zolkin.
So are watches and other personal possessions.
“This is one of the refrigerated wagons, with 50 dead. A lot of work is being done with each (body). You will understand what we are talking about if you want to watch the full video, said Zolkin.
Estimates suggest Russia has lost as many as 30,000 in the first two months of a war Putin was expected to win within days.
He is believed to have lost eight generals and at least 35 colonels among his top brass.
The toll also includes some of Russia’s most elite special forces fighters from GRU military intelligence and other services.
In other broadcasts, Zorkin has interviewed “pale” and “nervous” captive Russian troops.
He asks their permission then seeks “an account of their military background and the events that led to their capture, along with their thoughts on the war”.
He said: "The prisoners are then asked to call their family and friends at home. The reasoning is that the mothers of captured soldiers would listen to what their sons were saying about the truth about the war.”
It is necessary to try to counter disinformation about the war from Russian state broadcasters, he added.
