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Ukraine Will Need Over a Year to Identify All Bodies Recently Returned by Russia
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![Amira_barkhush]( "Photo of Amira Barkhush")
Ukraine will need more than a year to identify the remains of Ukrainian citizens whose bodies were returned by Russia, according to Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko, speaking on June 18 on the national telethon.
Klymenko said that in recent exchanges, Ukraine has received 6,060 bodies of those killed in the war, including fallen defenders. Meanwhile, the Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War reported 6,057 bodies repatriated. The repatriation component of the Istanbul agreements was completed on June 16.
“Each package we receive may contain not just one body but multiple remains belonging to one, two, or even three people. During forensic examinations, we have found fragments of the same person’s remains spread across different packages or repatriations. The enemy deliberately complicates our work to delay the process,” Klymenko stated.
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He added that forensic experts, investigators, and other services are working in three shifts to identify the fallen as quickly as possible. The final stage is establishing each individual’s DNA profile.
“Processing these six thousand [bodies] will take about 13 to 14 months at a minimum, according to our experts’ most conservative estimate. That’s the shortest timeframe we expect for complete identification,” the minister added.
Klymenko has previously reported that Russian authorities Russian military bodies were mixed in with those of Ukrainian servicemen during the latest repatriation.
The final stage of the repatriation process, conducted within the framework of the Istanbul agreements, was completed on June 16, when Ukraine received the remains of an additional 1,245 individuals, identified by Russia as Ukrainian citizens.
