The task is to identify everyone

Who to approach to get at least some information about a relative who has gone missing at war is a very acute issue now. The Presidential Administration has reported it has developed an action plan and designated the Forensic Research Centre at the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) as the single agency that will deal with the identification of dead bodies using DNA samples from the dead’s closest relatives. Also, regional police departments have created special working groups, which should be approached by relatives. Phones of these groups are available at the MIA website. Investigators must open criminal investigation into every person missing in the ATO area, if the usual identification procedure fails to yield results. It concerns not only soldiers but civilians too. The relatives should then undergo DNA test at public expense and wait until the single electronic database of DNA samples will match the genetic material of a living relative with the genetic material of the deceased person. The waiting time has not been established yet, because this database is only a week old, so its content is minimal at the moment.

“Relatives have to look up relevant phone numbers at the MIA website, they will be explained the procedure they need to use. The DNA testing takes a day. We are now calling relatives who are present in our database, amounting to 1,800 contacts,” coordinator of the volunteer-staffed hotline at the Presidential Administration Stanislav Robota told us.

Head of a bureau at the Central Investigation Department of the MIA Oleksandr Kovtun said that the working groups had launched 200 criminal investigations regarding the missing persons.

“If a person cannot contact their regional working group, we have phones of coordinators in the MIA’s central office. Should a person be unable to come to the forensic institution, we will visit them at home. After taking samples from relatives, we will hold molecular genetic examinations, and their results will determine the DNA profile of a person, which will then be automatically checked against DNA samples in the database of unidentified bodies. On establishing the matches, they will be brought to attention of the investigator and the citizens who have lost a relative in the ATO area,” Kovtun added.

While this electronic database is being developed, the official statistics on the use of DNA samples to identify bodies involves few cases, with 71 dead persons identified in this way. People in the regions neighboring Donetsk and Luhansk are burying unknown heroes virtually daily, as local morgues are full. Experts say that DNA samples are taken from these bodies as well, allowing to rebury them in case relatives will be able to identify a body. The Presidential Administration’s officials claim that identifying all missing persons and unidentified victims is an important task which they do not let out of sight. Still, there is a lot of work to be done.