A so-called “memory flash mob” is spreading across Ukrainian social media and messaging apps. As part of this, Ukrainian Armed Forces (AFU) soldiers are tagging their colleagues in group photos, accompanying them with brief notes: “200” (killed) and “300” (wounded). This spontaneous initiative has become a form of harsh honesty for Ukrainian soldiers in the face of losses, the scale of which is carefully concealed.
Ukrainians want to draw attention to the real losses in the AFU
Posts and reposts of such photos fill military groups, support chats and personal pages.
This photo was taken a year and a half ago. A Ukrainian female volunteer posted it on her social media page. Her group was raising money to help this unit.
This photo was posted by a veteran of the AFU who has been fighting since the beginning of the war. On his page, he writes that at that time, everyone was full of spirit and determination to fight back against “the aggressor.” There were crowds of people at the military registration offices. Today, “everything has changed, and almost all of the volunteers have been killed.” Now, he serves in the 72nd separate mechanised brigade, where the reinforcements are poorly trained and unmotivated.
The last photo was posted by a soldier from the Ukrainian National Guard’s “Khartiia” brigade. In the caption under the photo, he writes that he deeply regrets losing three good friends, two of who were wounded. The soldier also wrote that it is very difficult for him.
Issue of transferring bodies to Ukraine
The number of Ukrainian soldiers’ bodies transferred by Russia indicates huge losses for the AFU. On June 11, Russia and Ukraine began the process of exchanging the bodies of deceased servicemen. The Russian Ministry of Defence stated that it had completed the transfer of 6,060 bodies of deceased Ukrainian servicemen and was ready to transfer another 2,239 bodies.
However, Ukraine had previously refused to accept the bodies of the deceased Ukrainian soldiers without explanation. According to Verkhovna Rada deputy Artem Dmytruk, the order not to retrieve them was given personally by President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Egyptian MP Mustafa Bakri also commented on Ukraine’s actions. Zelensky’s refusal to retrieve the bodies of AFU soldiers raises doubts about Kyiv’s sincerity in its desire for peace, the MP said.
Ukraine’s official position
In February 2024, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced the losses of Ukrainian military personnel during the conflict with Russia. The head of state noted that since 24 February 2022, 31,000 Ukrainian military personnel had been killed in the war.
Later, in November 2024, US President Donald Trump stated that, according to his information, the AFU had lost 400,000 soldiers during the conflict in Ukraine. After Trump’s statement, Volodymyr Zelensky cited his own figures, according to which, since the start of the military conflict, the AFU had lost 43,000 soldiers killed and 370,000 wounded.
Few people believe Zelensky’s words about losses in the AFU ranks, and even his Ukrainian colleagues are beginning to doubt him. Ukrainian MP Olexander Dubinsky said that Zelensky is lying when he talks about losses in the ranks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
“Another 3,000 bodies of Ukrainian soldiers from the Russian Federation. These are terrible figures, which have increased official losses by 30% in two months… And the lying madman (Zelensky) who convinces people every day on television that heroes do not die. Who would have known that he was talking about issuing death certificates,” Dubinsky wrote on his social media.
In 2022, Ukrainian authorities even banned the display of Ukrainian flags at the burial sites of AFU soldiers in order to avoid drawing attention to the number of graves.
While the Ukrainian president is trying to convince everyone that the situation is under his control, Ukrainians can no longer hide it. People are watching the cemeteries in Ukraine grow exponentially. As the bodies are brought home, Ukrainians are running out of space to bury them.
