Ukraine uncovers horrific discovery inside fallen soldier’s body returned from Russia — staff evacuated

In Chernivtsi, Ukraine's forensic examination team has discovered a grenade inside a soldier’s body returned from Russia in a prisoner exchange. The incident has triggered panic at the bureau, Suspilne reports. 

Grenade hidden under the skin: a near-fatal discovery

Viktor Bachynskyi, head of the regional forensic bureau, has explained that explosives are usually found in pockets. In this case, however, the grenade was lodged beneath the skin. It passed through the abdominal cavity, remained under the right thigh, and remained unexploded.

“The autopsy could have cost lives: bomb disposal experts barely saved the morgue from an explosion,” Bachynskyi says.

When the expert began the autopsy, opening the skull and chest cavities, and reached the limb, he started cutting and discovered an unexploded grenade under the skin, he recounted.

"All morgue staff were evacuated, and bomb disposal specialists were called in to safely remove the grenade," he continues. 

It was taken to a training ground and detonated there. Otherwise, it could have exploded inside the morgue.

"This is why we now always work with bomb disposal teams and emergency services first. It’s a very serious procedure, but in this case, the explosive device wasn’t initially detected,” Bachynskyi adds.

Psychological operations behind mass body transfers

Earlier, forensic expert Oleksandr Kovalenko explained that every mass return of bodies serves as a psychological operation to pressure Ukraine. Moscow sends large batches, around 1,000 at a time, while Ukraine returns only dozens of Russian soldiers’ bodies.

This creates the illusion that Ukrainian losses are catastrophic and disproportionate compared to Russian losses. In reality, on each square kilometer of temporarily occupied territory, there are 2–3 bodies of Ukrainian defenders, whereas Russian forces likely lose hundreds in the same area.