It will take Ukraine more than a year to identify the bodies of fallen soldiers handed over by Russia

The enemy has complicated the process by handing over remains mixed with bodies in the uniforms of the occupying army.

As part of the agreements in Istanbul, the enemy transferred 6,060 bodies to Ukraine, mixed with the remains of Russian soldiers. The state will need at least 13–14 months to complete the identification process.

This was reported by Minister of Internal Affairs Ihor Klymenko during a national telethon broadcast.

“I can only give an approximate estimate, as the analysis is still ongoing regarding the condition and quantity of remains contained in the packages handed over by the Russian side. But according to the most conservative preliminary estimates of our experts, identifying these 6,000 will take about 13 to 14 months,” he commented.

According to the Minister, all relevant services are currently working in three shifts to complete the process as quickly as possible and return the bodies to the families of the fallen.

However, Russia has complicated this process.

“Each package we received may contain not just one body—it may hold multiple body parts. A single package might contain the remains of one, two, or even three individuals. Moreover, during the examination, we began to discover remains of the same person in several different packages or even in different repatriation shipments,” said the Minister of Internal Affairs.

Additionally, according to Klymenko, it is very common for the bodies returned by Russia to be dressed in the uniform of the occupying army, complete with documents and identification tags. Ukraine must identify these bodies as well, because the enemy could be acting deceitfully—being in a Russian uniform does not necessarily mean the person was an occupier.

“We are conducting a full identification process and comparing the DNA profiles of the families of our heroes with the material we have for examination,” he added.

The Minister emphasized that once Ukraine has enough evidence to determine that a body does not belong to a Ukrainian defender, it will be returned to the families of the deceased occupiers for burial.

He is convinced that Russia is deliberately trying to complicate Ukraine’s efforts, delay the process, or even accuse Ukraine of allegedly refusing to identify the bodies.

Anastasiya Golovenko