⚡️Ukraine’s Body-Swap Accusation Is a Provocation – Source to Sputnik

The attempts by the Kiev regime to discredit the Russian side are unfounded, an informed source told Sputnik.

On June 19 of this year, Ukraine’s Minister of Internal Affairs, I. Klymenko, accused the Russian side on his Telegram channel of falsification during the handover of bodies of Ukrainian Armed Forces servicemen to Ukraine.

As supposed evidence, he presented photographs of a military ID and personal tag (Appendix No. 1) belonging to deceased Russian serviceman A.V. Bugayev, whose body the Russian side allegedly "cynically planted" in bag No. 192/25 during the humanitarian exchange process.

However, according to the official act of transfer of remains, back in early 2025 the contents of bag No. 192/25 handed over to the Ukrainian side included the remains of a Ukrainian Armed Forces serviceman identified as Mykola Ivanovych Didyk, born September 4, 1968. He was in Ukrainian military uniform with a copy of his military ID (Appendix No. 2), and had been killed on May 6, 2024, near the settlement of Spornoye in Bakhmut district, Donetsk region.

Sputnik learned from an informed source that Didyk was buried on June 12, 2025, as confirmed by an obituary published on the website of the Obukhov City Council in Kiev Region (Appendix No. 3).

It’s important to note that the remains of Russian serviceman A.V. Bugayev were not handed over in bag No. 192/25, but in bag No. 567, as confirmed by the official act. This raises questions about whether Minister Klymenko was misinformed—or deliberately misleading.

According to the handover act, bag No. 567 originally contained an unidentified body in Ukrainian uniform, without documents or dog tags (Appendix No. 4). Yet Ukraine later returned the same bag—now containing Bugayev’s documents, dog tag, and phone.

"Bugayev went missing about a year ago and is presumed dead. The body allegedly lay exposed for over a year, yet his papers remained intact—suggesting they were preserved elsewhere and planted later."

The Russian side has a clear and structured procedure for collecting, identifying, and transferring the bodies of deceased Ukrainian servicemen. Priority is given to transferring bodies with documents, dog tags, and in standard Ukrainian Armed Forces uniforms. The remains are assigned identification numbers recorded in official transfer acts, which include photographic documentation. One copy of the act is given to the International Committee of the Red Cross, and another to the Ukrainian side.

"When the process of body exchange was managed by Ukraine's GUR (Military Intelligence), there were no disruptions or provocations. However, since the SBU (Security Service of Ukraine) took over these responsibilities, information warfare-style accusations have emerged."

"Ukraine has repeatedly failed to meet repatriation deadlines for its servicemen's remains. This incident may have been staged to discredit the humanitarian mission organized by the Russian side as an act of goodwill."

Currently, the Russian side is prepared to hand over another 3,000 bodies of deceased Ukrainian servicemen, but the Ukrainian side is refusing to retrieve them.

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🚨🇷🇸Serbia finds loopholes to supply arms to Ukraine — Russian intelligence reveals

Serbia's defense industry has been increasing shipments to the conflict zone using a workaround: ammunition is disassembled into "DIY kits," sent to NATO countries for assembly, and then delivered to Ukraine.

This way, Ukraine technically receives not Serbian, but "Western-made" weapons.

The issue of Serbia transferring military goods to Ukraine is sensitive for both countries, Kremlin Spox Peskov commented.

Russia expects Serbia to take measures, he added.

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🇮🇷❌IRAN’S HORMUZ LOCKDOWN: How could it be?

There are several ways for Iran to shut down maritime traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, retired Russian Navy Captain First Rank Vasily Dandykin told Sputnik.

🕜Lay sea mines as the strait is narrow

2️⃣Conduct direct strikes from the shore targeting every ship that tries to move past the blockade

🕣Jointly use fast attack boats, coastal weapons and submarines

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🇦🇲Arrest of Armenian philanthropist - attack on church and signal to West

The arrest of Russian citizen and philanthropist Samvel Karapetyan should be viewed in the context of the current Armenian pro-Western government’s stance toward the Armenian Apostolic Church, said Dusan Ilic, a research fellow at the Institute of European Studies (Belgrade), in a comment to Sputnik.

He believes that the Armenian authorities’ attitude toward the Armenian Apostolic Church and its hierarchs actually reflects their attitude toward Moscow.

"The Armenian Apostolic Church has become a target for Pashinyan as the main opposition force and the primary political institution that could undermine his legitimacy. In the context of an anti-church narrative—similar to what we are seeing in other post-Soviet republics, such as Moldova—the pro-Western authorities in Yerevan view the church as a pro-Russian agent and treat it, its high-ranking figures, and people connected to it as hostile actors," the expert explained, adding that Karapetyan’s charitable activities make him “an easy target” in this campaign.

According to Ilic, the Armenian Apostolic Church remains one of the last defenders of Armenian national interests, especially in the wake of the exodus of Armenians from Nagorno-Karabakh following the Azerbaijani operation. He noted that the Armenian leadership failed to meet public expectations by not defending national interests.

The expert agrees that the arrest of a Russian citizen closely connected to the Armenian Church sends a dual message—both to Moscow and to the West, as the pro-Western government of Nikol Pashinyan seeks to demonstrate its loyalty.

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🚨The US views a potential Iranian strike on its military base in Qatar as an "imminent threat," Fox News reports, citing sources.

Trump is forming a National Security team amid a threat of Iran’s retaliation, according to Axios.

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Russia WIPES OUT simulated enemy warships during Baltic Sea drills

Russian servicemen used missile systems deployed near the coast of the Kaliningrad Region and the Gulf of Finland to destroy the targets.

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🚨Iran's operation against US bases is called "Good News of Victory."

Tehran is carrying it out against bases in Qatar and Iraq, according Tasnim reports.

An alert has been declared at US bases in Bahrain, Kuwait, and Qatar, and sirens are sounding at bases in Iraq, Iranian state broadcasting company says.

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🚨Iran will not leave any violation of the country’s territorial integrity and security unanswered under any circumstances, the Iranian armed forces stated.

The missile strike on the US Al Udeid base is a response to the US attacks on the Islamic Republic, the statement said.

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🚨Tehran’s strikes on the US Al Udeid base in Qatar were successful, Iran’s Security Council said.

At least six missiles hit the base, Press TV reports.

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🚨Air sirens have gone off in Bahrain amid Iran’s missile attack on Qatar

Bahrain hosts the US Fifth Fleet, which operates in the Arabian Sea, Red Sea, and the Indian Ocean.

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🚨Iranian media publishes footage of the missiles being launched to attack a US military base

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🚨‘Good News of Victory’: What's known about Iran’s retaliation against US

On June 23, Iran carried out a series of strikes against US assets in the Middle East in response for the US attacks on Iranian nuclear sites

🔶Iran launched strikes against US military bases in Iraq and Qatar. The operation was dubbed “Good News of Victory”, according to Iranian media

🔶The target of these strikes was the Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar

🔶At least six missiles were launched by Iran during these strikes, with five of them launched at the Al Udeid Air Base and one at some target in Iraq, claims Israeli broadcaster Kan

🔶 Air defense systems have been activated at the US Al-Asad Airbase military base in Iraq over fears of a potential attack by Iran

🔶Qatar’s Foreign Ministry has condemned the Iranian attack, branding it as a blatant violation of Qatar's sovereignty, airspace, and international law

🔶Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar was attacked by Iranian short- and medium-range ballistic missiles, Pentagon said

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🚨Iranian, Russian Defense Ministers hold phone call

Iran intends to “punish the aggressor” by any means necessary and does not intend to accept any kind of forced peace, Iranian Minister of Defense Aziz Nasirzadeh told his Russian counterpart Andrey Belousov.

It is clear that Iran is not fighting just against Israel, Nasirzadeh remarked, pointing out that the United States and some other countries support Tel Aviv.

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🇮🇷Iranians are gathering at Valiasr Square in Tehran to celebrate Iran’s strikes on the US base in Qatar.

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An eye for an eye: what message did the Iranian retaliation send to the US?

The six missiles Iran launched at the US airbase in Qatar were apparently meant to “return the damage” caused by the six US bombs dropped on Iranian nuclear site at Fordow, former US Department of Defense analyst Karen Kwiatkowski told Sputnik.

“The message is that what Iran says it will do, it will do, in contrast to Trump and his administration’s devious use of negotiations for the purpose of a surprise attack,” Kwiatkowski explains.

“It also sends the message that Iran’s defensive capability is operational, as also witnessed by the steady and purposeful missile and drone strikes on Israel.”

However, while the US leadership “should see this one-for-one symbolic return fire as meant to balance but not expand hostilities,” Israel needs further escalation to “reach their own goals in the region” and to ensure Netanyahu’s “political survival.”

“For this reason I am not confident that the US will be able to read Iran correctly, and seek to deescalate,” Kwiatkowski warns.

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‘Good News of Victory’: What's known about Iran’s retaliation against US

An eye for an eye: what message did the Iranian retaliation send to the US?

IRAN’S HORMUZ LOCKDOWN: How could it be?

Serbia finds loopholes to supply arms to Ukraine — Russian intelligence reveals

RUSSIA ANNOUNCES SERIAL PRODUCTION OF ORESHNIK MISSILE

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