Ministry of Internal Affairs: It will take more than a year to identify the bodies of deceased Ukrainians transferred by Russia

It will take Ukraine more than a year to identify the bodies of the dead Ukrainian citizens handed over by Russia.

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

According to him, within the framework of the latest exchanges, 6 060 bodies of citizens killed in the war, including defenders, were returned. At the same time, the Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War reported 6 057 bodies of the fallen. The repatriation part of the Istanbul Agreements was completed on June 16.

"Each package we receive may contain not just one body, but many remains of bodies, of one, two, or three people. During the examination, we began to detect [fragments] of the body of one person in several packages or in different repatriations. The enemy is trying to do everything to complicate our work and delay time," said Ihor Klymenko.

He added that forensic experts, investigators and other services are working in three shifts to identify the deceased Ukrainians as quickly as possible. The final stage of this work is to isolate the personʼs DNA profile.

“[To process] six thousand [bodies], according to the most modest preliminary opinion of our specialists, it will take approximately 13-14 months. This is the minimum period that we will need for full identification,” said the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

• At negotiations between Ukraine and Russia in Istanbul on June 2, the parties agreed on a large exchange in the format of "all for all" in the following categories: seriously wounded and seriously ill, young people from 18 to 25 years old. At the same time, they agreed to exchange 6 thousand bodies of dead soldiers.
• On Sunday, June 15, Ukraine returned the bodies of 1 200 of its fallen citizens, including defenders. On June 16, another 1 245 bodies were returned. The Kremlin is returning the bodies of the dead in extremely mutilated condition, and during the latest repatriations, the bodies of occupiers have also been handed over.

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