I am reading on newswires that the Russian military are leaving their dead on the side of the road or placed in mass graves. Intercepted mobile phone communications with Russian soldiers calling home are shocked that the Russian military just leaves bodies where they fall. 

The Ukrainian forces are identifying their military and civilian dead. Not only that, the Ukrainian forces are also collecting the dead bodies of Russian soldiers. Based on what I am seeing, this is not that popular in Ukraine based on the war crimes committed against their population. The war crimes angle is a major concern, but I am looking at this from a different angle.

The Russian military and Russian political elite don’t want the bodies of dead soldiers returned. The Ukrainian military is claiming up to 25,000 dead soldiers, is this true? I don’t know, we have to rely on Ukrainian estimates. However, if the Ukrainians start returning dead Russian military personnel to Russia, it would be difficult for the Russian political elite to deny the deaths. There is looted goods on the bodies of the dead Russian soldiers, this is highly embarrassing for the Russian military. 

As the Ukrainian military makes greater gains in the Eastern Donbas region, the Russian bodies will further pile up. There are so many images on newswires of Russian tanks being destroyed with Javelin missiles causing the turret to pop off, that is a major loss of personnel. The  Ukrainian military has requested Russian DNA data to identify Russian soldiers, they are not supplying the data and not interested in repatriating dead military personnel. 

There are claims dead Russian soldiers are piled in mass graves by the Russian military. Whilst satellite photography has identified mass Ukrainian civilian graves in captured cities and towns, there is evidence of civilians killed by sniper file just going out to purchase food and suppliers. With the arrival of long range American artillery, one expects further Russian losses as the intelligence used by the Ukrainians is highly targeted and effective.