Behind Every DNA Test, a Family Waits

Photo: Mykyta Shandyba/UNITED24 Media

Russia often returns Ukrainian soldiers’ remains mutilated, incomplete, and mixed, slowing identification.

Still, experts fight to give every soldier back a name.

Photo: Danylo Antoniuk/Getty Images

Hanna’s brother Kostiantyn went missing in Bakhmut in 2023, later identified by DNA, and she says they are “lucky” his body was returned while many still wait.

Hanna Kostenko with her brother Kostiantyn. Photo: Hanna Kostenko

Ukraine's DNA labs face heartbreaking work mostly receiving “bone fragments, because nothing else is left”.

Photo: Mykyta Shandyba/UNITED24 Media

Bone fragments are cleaned and drilled for DNA, machines process hundreds daily, and experts keep trying until an identity is found.

Photo: Mykyta Shandyba/UNITED24 Media

Since 2022, the number of full-profile labs within the Ministry of Internal Affairs Expert Service branch has grown from 9 to 20, now processing about 6,000 samples from close relatives monthly.

Photo: Mykyta Shandyba/UNITED24 Media

Russia has turned the return of bodies into a tool of pressure, often sending mutilated remains in separate bags or mixing Ukrainian soldiers with Russian ones.

Photo: Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War

Since early 2025, investigators have already found at least 20 cases of Russian bodies hidden among those repatriated to Ukraine.

 

Read the full story

Inside Ukraine’s DNA Search Reuniting Fallen Heroes With Their Families

Share this story