Ukraine's Defence Minister recalls negotiations with Russia: a NATO helicopter in Belarus, and Russians refusing to collect the bodies of their dead

Ukraine’s Defence Minister Oleksii Reznikov has recalled how the Ukrainian delegation flew to Belarus in a NATO helicopter to negotiate with the Russian invaders in February 2022, and how the Russians refused to take back the bodies of their dead soldiers.

Source: Reznikov in an interview with Dmytro Komarov

Quote: "We got there [to Belarus] in an interesting way. They’d offered to make a corridor for us so that we could enter [Belarus] through the occupied part [of Ukraine - ed.]. We said, ‘Yeah. We’ll make our way there as we see fit.’ We talked to our Polish counterparts and our Polish counterparts supported us.

We got to Poland, boarded NATO Black Hawk helicopters there, and flew to Belarusian territory. We landed there and flew on to our destination in Belarusian helicopters. 

I think that was the first time NATO helicopters landed on Belarusian soil…

I was struck by the cynicism of the Russians. On the day we were at the talks [in Belarus - ed.], we had already counted about 3,000 Russian dead. That's a lot! Three thousand dead, plus wounded. We’re sitting there talking, and the negotiators are sitting on the other side. I say to them, OK, we’ve agreed on corridors, on the withdrawal of the population, but what are we going to do with the bodies of your dead - maybe we’ll give them to you for burial? Take them away, because we don't have anywhere to keep them.

The head of the delegation [of the Russian Federation - ed.] turns to the Deputy Minister of Defence, and he says: ‘We do not confirm that, we have 10 or 20, or 30 dead.’ The head of the delegation turns to me and says: ‘We do not confirm that.’ I said, you might not confirm it, but there are 3,000."

Details: Reznikov said the decision to negotiate with Russia at the beginning of Russia's large-scale invasion was an extremely difficult one for him.

He noted that it is unprofessional to negotiate with someone you hate. He said he had to switch off his own emotions. 

Furthermore, the negotiations took place on the territory of Belarus, where the Ukrainian delegation could have been taken hostage or killed on the way.

The minister also mentioned that he suggested the Russians allow the Red Cross to be an intermediary in the negotiations so that they could assist in sending the bodies of the invaders home.

Reznikov told the Russian representatives that Ukraine could have transported the bodies in railcars, but the Russians would definitely not have returned the railcars.

A few weeks after the negotiations in Belarus, Peter Maurer, President of the International Committee of the Red Cross, came to Ukraine, having visited Russia previously. According to Reznikov, Maurer hinted that the Russian military leadership already knew about Russia’s military losses, but did not dare to report on this "to the top": "They cynically hid the losses from themselves. From their own leadership."

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