In June 2025, a video circulated on Telegram in which Andrei Biletsky claims: During the exchange with Moscow, Kyiv accepted only minimally damaged bodies in order to pay less compensation to families. We have verified the authenticity of this video.

The video appeared online at the end of June. In it, Ukrainian military leader and former commander of the Azov regiment Andrei Biletsky says: “I was present at the transfer of the bodies of the dead. I want to say that now there is an unspoken instruction to take only minimally mutilated bodies. You understand, in war it rarely happens when the body of the deceased, say, did not lose anything. I’ll tell you honestly: in Ukraine there is not enough money to first identify everyone and then pay compensation to each family.” According to Biletsky, a rally is planned for June 28 in Kyiv, during which citizens can express their dissatisfaction with the authorities.

This video was distributed by Telegram channels "#Montan! Uncut"(223,000 views at the time of writing the analysis), "Voblya • news"(136,000), "Ukraine.ru"(117,000), "Sheikh Tamir"(112,000), "Ostashko! Important"(90,000), "Open Ukraine| Open Ukraine"(54,000), etc.

June 2 in Istanbul passed the second round of Russian-Ukrainian negotiations, within the framework of which the parties, among other things, agreed on the mutual transfer of the bodies of dead servicemen. Based on the results of the exchange that took place in several stages, Russia conveyed Ukraine suffered more than 6,000 dead, receiving 78 bodies in response. The process was accompanied by mutual reproaches: the Russian authorities statedthat the Ukrainian side allegedly refuses to take the remains and artificially delays the process, and the President of Ukraine Vladimir Zelensky accused Moscow is that, under the guise of fallen Ukrainian soldiers, it handed over the bodies of 20 citizens of the Russian Federation and other countries.

Viral video. Source: Telegram

The viral video and its description do not indicate when Biletsky made this statement. At the same time, the military man’s speech sounds unnatural: he speaks unemotionally and without a single hesitation, and in some episodes his gestures do not coincide with the spoken words. This suggests that the audio track was generated by a neural network. Video analysis using an AI detector Hive Moderation showed: the frames themselves were not processed, but the audio was generated using AI with a 99% probability.

A reverse search using a screenshot from the video led to “Verified” to video with Biletsky's speech at the Dou forum. This recording was published on YouTube on June 11, 2025, the event itself took place on May 16. The full video lasts more than an hour, and during this time Biletsky never mentions body swapping or compensation payments. Apparently, the author of the viral video took a fragment from this video and overlayed the AI-generated sound.

As for the rally on June 28, which Biletsky “talks about” at the end of the video, on this date Ukraine celebrates Constitution Day, which regularly accompanied by demonstrations. This year was no exception: on June 28, on Independence Square in Kyiv, relatives of military personnel who went missing in the battles for Krynki in the Kherson region, held action with demands to intensify search activities and ensure transparency in the provision of information about their results. Judging by the posts on the initiative group’s Facebook page, they often carry out similar events in different cities of Ukraine. There were no rallies against the alleged fraud with the bodies returned during the exchange in Kyiv that day.

On the left in the viral video is the username @boevoy_listok. This user's TikTok page actually posted This video was published on June 24 and collected 510,000 views. The profile description states: “Video about heroic actions, morale and achievements of the SVO.” At the same time, the content on the page is extremely diverse - the user publishes many videos about the Russian army, as well as posts posts with hashtags like #vsu, #vsusila🇺🇦, #zsu, #zsu_naykrashchi.

“Verified” also found earlier publications of this video. The first such post was posted on the Telegram channel U_G_M on June 23 at 22:22 Moscow time. However, the video only became viral after publications in the Telegram channel “Actually in Kharkov” on June 25. Both of these channels often met in “Verified” analyzes as distributors and primary sources of fake news.

Thus, Andrei Biletsky did not state that during the exchange, the Ukrainian authorities took only certain bodies of dead servicemen, trying to save on payments to relatives. The video used as evidence was created using AI.

Cover photo: YouTube screenshot