STORY: Sixty-nine-year-old Volodymyr Umanets hopes his son will be among the Ukrainian prisoners of war now being handed over by Russia.
But he knows he could be part of a more somber homecoming: the repatriated remains of dead soldiers.
”I am told to wait. What else is left for me to do? To wait. The hope is still there.”
His 49-year-old son Sergiy, was serving in the Ukrainian military in south-eastern Ukraine when he went missing in combat in December 2023.
He has given authorities a sample of his DNA so if his remains are recovered, he can be identified.
”You know, I want to know at least something, to get at least some information. I have read recently in the newspaper that a young man was declared missing. And during the exchange of bodies, his DNA was identified. He was buried today. I wish I knew at least this.”
Russia and Ukraine have begun handing over 1,000 prisoners of war each, and also plans to hand over the remains of around 6,000 Ukrainian soldiers.
It starts a painstaking process to identify who they are, how they died, and to notify their families.
Professor of Forensic Science at Belgrade University Djordje Alempijevic says the remains will have degraded because they have been stored for a long time.
In the best case scenario, the bodies are returned with some documents to help identification, but it is not always the case.
Absent any identifying documents, forensic pathologists will try to conduct an autopsy.
“It requires facilities, it requires X-ray machinery, it requires experts, it requires proper documentation, handling of documents, databases. I mean, it’s it’s not easy, but it’s doable.”
:: May 13, 2022
Ukraine has alleged Russia’s approach to processing the remains of Ukrainian soldiers has been haphazard.
Russia has accused Ukraine of deliberately delaying the exchange of the remains, a claim Kyiv denies.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by PostX News and is published from a syndicated feed.)
