The remains of Rohan Kumar Sudi, a Sri Lankan who fought in Russia’s armed forces, were transferred to Russia on 22 October during a repatriation operation — not to Sri Lanka. Colombo would now have to formally request them from Moscow.
The account comes from “I Want to Live,” a Ukrainian government-backed project that encourages surrender by Russian service members, as reported by the Daily Mirror at 7.45 p.m.
The direction of the transfer is the story
Because Sudi served as a combatant in Russia’s armed forces, his remains were handed to the Russian side in an exchange of fallen military personnel. The project said Sri Lanka would need to approach Russia directly to recover them.
It added that Russian authorities generally bury or cremate foreign nationals killed serving in their military rather than returning remains to their home countries. That claim is the project’s and could not be independently verified.
The transfer took place the same day Ukraine received the bodies of 252 people Russia identified as Ukrainian service members, whose identities have yet to be confirmed by examination.
The scale the project describes
“I Want to Live” said it had identified more than 5,000 foreign nationals who died while serving in Russia’s military as of early 2026. It alleged that some were killed in combat and others were killed by fellow Russian personnel, a practice it referred to as obnuleniye, or “zeroing out.”
It called on governments whose citizens have been recruited by Russia to press Moscow to return both surviving recruits and the remains of those killed, and to prevent further recruitment.
Separately, figures previously released by Ukraine’s Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War put the number of foreign nationals who had signed contracts with Russia’s armed forces at at least 45,959, from 151 countries and unrecognised territories, as of October 2026.
Reading this account
All of the substantive claims here originate with one party to the war. The Daily Mirror attributes them to the project throughout and flags that the cremation claim is unverified; this account keeps that attribution rather than restating the claims as established fact.
The filing’s own headline says Ukraine “returns” the body, which is accurate only in the sense that Ukraine released it — the recipient was Russia.
Not reported
The filing gives no biographical detail on Rohan Kumar Sudi: no age, home district, when he left Sri Lanka, how he was recruited, when he died or where. It does not say how many Sri Lankan nationals are among the 5,000 foreign dead the project claims to have identified, or among the 45,959 contract signatories.
There is no comment from Sri Lanka’s Foreign Ministry, its mission in Moscow, or the family, and no indication whether Colombo has been formally notified or intends to make a request. No Russian response is cited.
This desk has not previously reported on Sri Lankan nationals serving in Russia’s armed forces, and this account rests on a single verified newsroom relaying a Ukrainian government-backed source.
