Efforts are underway in Ukraine to identify the remains of thousands killed on the front line. CBC's Briar Stewart reports on the overwhelming feeling for forensic investigators and desperation for families.

Kyiv

Russian forces have invaded Ukraine from land, air and sea with strikes causing widespread damage. Global leaders have condemned the move and imposed sanctions.

Ukraine Invasion

Ukrainian officials are undertaking extensive efforts to identify the remains of thousands killed during the ongoing conflict. The process has become more urgent following the recent repatriation of over 6,000 bodies from Russia under a negotiated agreement. Forensic investigators, particularly in cities like Dnipro, are overwhelmed as families seek closure and proper burials for their loved ones. 

Many of the unidentified are buried in special cemetery sections marked by simple crosses, while teams use photographs, personal items, and DNA testing to assist in identification. The scale of the task reflects the prolonged and devastating impact of the war, with families across the country still searching for answers after more than three years of conflict.

Ukraine continues efforts to identify thousands killed in war

In Ukraine, efforts are underway to identify the remains of thousands killed on the front line. In June, the country received more than 6,000 bodies repatriated from Russia under a deal struck in Turkey. CBC's Briar Stewart was in the southern Ukrainian city of Dnipro, where forensic investigators are overwhelmed and families desperate for answers. But a warning, this story includes images of human remains. This cemetery in Dnipro speaks to the fact that this war has been grinding on for more than three and a half years, and there's a growing number of dead. Now, this is a part in the cemetery that is reserved for soldiers who have not been identified, but who have been buried here. They're marked by simple wooden crosses. On this, it says there's somebody that's temporarily unidentified. There is a date, which is believed to be the date that they died, and then a date that they have been buried. And this whole little area of the cemetery where I'm standing, I mean, these are mostly unidentified people in the ground. But unidentified for now, is what officials say, because there's a lot of work underway to try to identify people, being able to give a certain amount of closure to families, but to give people a proper burial as well. We know that tens of thousands of Ukrainian soldiers have been killed in the conflict so far, and that in recent weeks, Ukraine has received an even greater number of remains back from Russia, because one of the things to come out of the limited negotiations that have been taking place between Russia and Ukraine so far is the fact that each side promised to repatriate up to 6,000 remains. A lot of those remains were brought back into the country by train and distributed to morgues across the country, and there's a real effort by forensic teams to identify the dead. Family members have been coming in, they're looking through pictures, some of them very disturbing, obviously, but also looking at pictures of things like watches and necklaces, trying to see if there's an item that they recognize. There's also testing underway for DNA, and you have family members coming in, doing a swab, because they believe that their loved one is missing. This scene that we're seeing here in the cemetery speaks to that, because you can see these dates, some of these bodies sat for a couple of years before they were buried, because there was work underway to identify them, and this is just one cemetery in one corner of Ukraine, and this is something that the entire country has been dealing with, and has been dealing with, for over three years. Briar Stewart, CBC News, Dnipro.

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Ukraine continues efforts to identify thousands killed in war

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Ukraine Invasion