Vehicles apparently used to transport soldiers’ bodies have been seen crossing the Russian-Ukrainian border, monitors from Europe’s security body have said.
The OSCE monitors said in one case a vehicle marked “Cargo 200” — Russia’s military code for soldiers killed in action — crossed from Russia into Ukraine on Tuesday and later returned.
Ukraine and the West accuse Russia of sending its soldiers to fight with separatist rebels in eastern Ukraine. The Kremlin denies the allegations.
More than 4,000 people have died in the conflict between Ukraine’s military and pro-Russian rebels in the eastern Donetsk and Luhansk regions.
Nearly a million people have fled their homes since the fighting started in April, a month after Russia annexed Ukraine’s southern Crimea peninsula.
The violence in the east has continued despite a ceasefire deal struck in Minsk, Belarus, in September, with both sides accusing each other of shelling and other violations of the agreement, BBC informs.
