ICRC voices: Dignity for the Dead in Ukraine

Recovering and identifying the fallen

The forensic team and I offer advice, training, equipment, and hundreds of thousands of DNA sample collection kits to support this vital work. But the scale of the tragedy is enormous. I arrived in Ukraine in February 2024, and since then, the flow of casualties hasn’t stopped. If the fighting continues at this pace, the backlog of remains to be identified will continue to grow. Even when the armed conflict finally ends, recovering and identifying human remains scattered across battlefields and destroyed villages will take years.

Ukrainian forensic institutions use different techniques to identify human remains, including DNA testing. But the process doesn’t start in a lab – it begins in the field, at the very place that person is found. In Ukraine, the actual recovery of human remains is handled by Ukrainian authorities, not the ICRC. Every detail is carefully photographed and documented: the recovery site, the clothing, the personal belongings found with them. Whether it’s a driver’s license tucked in a back pocket, a badge, ID card, or dog tag, losing a crucial piece of evidence could mean losing the chance to identify that person. 

They also take samples from bones and teeth to extract DNA, which is tested and uploaded to a database. The State Scientific Research Forensic Centre (SSRFC) then crosschecks this against DNA from families searching for confirmations and a return of the body of their loved one for burial. The success rate is good, but each match is bittersweet. It might be an answer for a grieving family, but it’s never the answer they hope for.

I have every respect for the forensic institutions here, who are doing extraordinary work under unimaginable circumstances. But no country in the world could easily deal with this scale of human loss.