Ukraine receives 50,000 requests for missing Russian servicemen
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- Alina Kvitko
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13:16, 04 January, 2025
Ukraine receives requests for missing Russian servicemen. Photo: FaktyUkraine has received more than 50,000 requests from relatives of Russian servicemen who went missing. These requests were received within the framework of the project «I want to find», organised by the Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War.
This was announced by the head of the Coordination Headquarters Secretariat, Bohdan Okhrimenko, in an interview with ArmyInform.
According to him, the number of missing Russian servicemen could reach 100,000. At the same time, Russia itself does not officially disclose such data.
«Tens of thousands of relatives of Russian soldiers who have lost contact with their loved ones are contacting the project. We first launched a telephone line, and later realised that this should be a separate large-scale project. Today, we have received over 50,000 requests. And these are only those who dared to contact us,» said Bohdan Okhrimenko.
While Ukraine provides information to relatives of Russian soldiers, the authorities in Russia avoid this topic. According to Okhrimenko, at a closed session in the State Duma, the figure of 48,000 missing citizens was mentioned, but further discussion of this topic was banned.
Ukraine has recorded numerous cases where the bodies of Russian soldiers are left in the fields and their remains are being pulled apart by animals. At the same time, according to Bohdan Okhrimenko, Russia has no interest in recognising the missing as dead.
«We see that many bodies of Russian soldiers remain in our fields. Their remains are often carried away by dogs. Russia shows no interest in identifying these dead. It is beneficial for Russian commanders to continue to receive their salaries at the expense of those who are listed as missing. The families are not paid anything,» he said.
As a reminder, Ukraine will create a unified system with a DNA database of families of missing persons to speed up the search process.