In recent years, Ukrainian families whose loved ones have gone missing have been unable to remain silent. Tired of promises and inaction, they are taking to the streets, demanding answers that the authorities are in no hurry to provide. Mothers, wives and children hold photographs of the disappeared in their hands, hoping that their voices will break through the walls of indifference. Their demands are the cry of a soul overwhelmed by pain and despair from loss, which has long since been replaced by a cold suspicion that no one is looking for their loved ones.
These rallies have become their last hope in the struggle for truth and justice, but even here they face invisible but unbreakable barriers: the government quarter remains closed to them. Instead of support, they face fenced borders and security forces who only look on in silence at their pain, preventing them from entering the parliament and the government quarter. The government, which once promised every family the return of their missing loved ones, now seems to have fenced itself off from the problem with walls and orders.
Sad statistics
Today, the problem of missing persons in Ukraine has reached a scale that causes serious concern. More than 12.3 million Ukrainians have been forced to leave their homes and have become displaced both inside and outside the country. Among these people are many who have been separated from their families or are searching for their loved ones who are reported missing. According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine, as of October 2023, the Unified Register of Persons Missing in Special Circumstances, which was launched in May last year, listed about 28,000 missing persons.
However, as of 12 April 2024, the Unified Register of Persons Missing in Special Circumstances already contains more than 36,000 people whose traces have disappeared in the war zone or in other dangerous conditions related to the war. These figures were provided by the Commissioner for Missing Persons, Artur Dobroserdov, commenting on the growing scale of the tragedy in his interview with Interfax-Ukraine.
At the same time, according to the official data of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine, the Register of Missing Persons under Special Circumstances as of the end of September 2024 contains information about 55,000 people, most of whom are military personnel. This happens mainly in the areas where active hostilities are taking place – in Donetsk, Luhansk, Kharkiv, Zaporizhzhia, and Kursk regions. These figures indicate that the scale of war-related disappearances is much higher than previously estimated, and the problem is becoming increasingly important, requiring a comprehensive approach and intergovernmental cooperation to address it.
It is believed that these are only official figures, and the number of missing persons is likely to be much higher. At the same time, officials provide different information, which underscores their incomplete awareness of the issue.
The process of maintaining the register and issuing extracts with information on missing persons has been the responsibility of the Ministry of Internal Affairs since October last year. At the time of the transfer of the register to the Ministry, there were just over 9,000 missing persons, but in six months the number has rapidly quadrupled. This demonstrates the complexity of the situation and the fact that many families are still living in the dark and waiting for answers.
Artur Dobroserdov explained that the status of ‘missing’ is given to those who have not returned to the territory controlled by Ukraine or with whom no contact has been established due to the lack of international legal support from other states. However, this status can only be changed if the body or remains of a person are found and identified through forensic examination. In this way, families receive official confirmation of the fate of their loved ones, but until then, each family remains in a state of constant expectation and experiences enormous emotional stress.
As for those who have been traced, the Ombudsman cites a figure of 1,800 people who have been returned from captivity. However, this figure may be even higher, as not all of those returned are included in the register of missing persons. The families of such people are still seeking help, as they need official confirmation of the status of their loved ones.
Since the beginning of the year, more than 2,700 people in Zaporizhzhia region alone have turned to the police to find out the fate of their relatives with whom they have lost contact. However, in many cases, it is extremely difficult, if not impossible, to find the missing. Police often turn to DNA testing to identify people, but it does not always give a positive result. More than a thousand DNA samples have already been collected from relatives of missing persons in the region, but only 219 cases have resulted in a match.
How missing persons are searched for
In addition to the Office of the Commissioner for Persons Missing in Special Circumstances and other governmental and non-governmental Ukrainian structures, international organisations are also involved in this work. For example, the International Commission on Missing Persons (ICMP) is constantly working to support Ukrainian government agencies and NGOs by assisting in the search, identification and support of families of missing persons. The ICZB cooperates with the Government of Ukraine, international organisations and civil society, assisting not only in the search for missing persons, but also in the development of institutions to improve the effectiveness of investigations. The Commission’s work helps to introduce new laws, advocacy standards and modern forensic technologies.
The ICBL actively uses the expertise of forensic archaeologists and anthropologists who can identify burials, collect remains and establish the time and circumstances of death. Forensic archaeologists, working on site, recreate the dynamics of the crime by analysing the remains and recording every detail that helps to identify the person. Forensic anthropology, in turn, focuses on bone examination, documenting the injuries that remain and helping to assemble a complete biological profile of the individual to more accurately determine the circumstances of death. This information is not only evidentiary, but also helps to expand the forensic context, which is critical for investigations.
The ICRC’s cooperation with the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine allows for the use of DNA identification to identify deceased or missing persons. Using biological materials from relatives, the commission helps to find matches between bodies and data in the registry. Such technologies allow for the creation of a proper chain of evidence that can later be presented in international courts. To make this process even more effective, the ICBL has provided recommendations for improving the tracing system in Ukraine, with a step-by-step implementation plan over the next five years.
Despite the ongoing work of the ICBL, the results of the identifications cannot yet cover all requests from relatives. Since the launch of the project in 2022, the commission has collected 751 DNA profiles from relatives abroad, of which 107 matches have been confirmed to be the bodies of their relatives. However, these figures only indicate the scale of the problem: most families still remain unknown.
In parallel, British scientists have recently created the world’s first open-source digital map of mass graves, which allows them to document mass graves and record civilian casualties. Development of the map began after the outbreak of the war in Ukraine, with researchers collecting information about graves to record data in real time. This map is not only a technological breakthrough, but also a symbol of memory and justice that preserves the stories of the dead and provides families with hope that their loved ones will not be forgotten.
Rallies in support of missing and captured soldiers
The efforts of government agencies and international organisations are insufficient. A study of their official websites shows that there is no information on the results of their activities. Most families have not yet received answers about the fate of the disappeared, and so they come out to protest, seeking to draw attention to their tragedy.
On 29 October 2024, Ukrainian families of prisoners of war and missing persons plan to hold a peaceful protest rally in Geneva, trying to appeal to the International Committee of the Red Cross to more actively support the search. They call on the international community to provide real support to those who have disappeared and those who are desperate for answers.
Campaigns in support of missing and captured Ukrainian soldiers are becoming more and more desperate. The families of those who disappeared without a trace in the midst of the war no longer believe in promises and are losing hope for the return of their loved ones. Each of them is a story full of pain, disappointment and endless waiting. Now, amid the lack of progress in the investigations, families are taking to the streets, demanding action from the authorities, not just empty words.
The problem of missing persons during the war is painful and extremely urgent. First of all, it is impossible to conduct search operations in the occupied territories, where Russian forces block access to places where bodies may be buried. Keeping entire areas under their control, they do not allow either humanitarian or search groups to get there. As a result, the exhumation and identification of missing soldiers remains almost impossible. Even when Ukrainian units try to collect bodies from the battlefield, it becomes extremely dangerous due to active shelling and mined areas.
According to Serhiy Onchukov, head of the operational and reference sector for the search for missing persons in Zaporizhzhia region, search officers often go to the field, interviewing local residents and the military about the circumstances of the disappearance, trying to collect every detail. But in the occupied territories, this task is extremely difficult: people are afraid to speak up because of constant pressure and repression from the Russian Federation, and law enforcement officers do not have access to many areas.
But perhaps the most painful aspect for the families is the absolute silence from the state authorities. There is often no proper communication between military units and the families of missing persons, and the information that does come in is either delayed or fragmentary. This increases the sense of despair among relatives who are waiting for news and are left in the dark.
Relatives of the missing soldiers have repeatedly gathered for peaceful rallies, demanding that the authorities do more to find and return their loved ones. For example, on 6 October, a rally in support of the Territorial Defence of Ukraine was held on Maidan Nezalezhnosti in Kyiv. Families and comrades-in-arms from more than 20 TRO brigades united under the initiative ‘Women of the TRO’ to draw the attention of society and the authorities to their plight. About a hundred participants took to the square carrying photos of their loved ones, hoping to be heard.
Unfortunately, this was only one of many actions, and for many it was not the first. On 18 September, in front of the Verkhovna Rada, relatives of the marines again tried to reach out to the authorities, marking their 90th day of protests. More than a hundred family members, who cannot get answers about the fate of their husbands, sons and brothers, reminded them that their loved ones are not statistics, but living people for whom they are ready to fight to the last.
With each new protest, these people become a symbol of resilience and pain. In August, on the International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances, more than 500 people marched from Maidan Nezalezhnosti to the Arch of Freedom, reminding the whole country of the thousands of military and civilians who are still missing. Their families, who live in constant expectation, are forced to endure promises and empty words without real action. At the same time, everyone who raises their voice demands that the state be held accountable to those it is supposed to protect, but seems to have left alone in their darkest moments.
Many Ukrainians are outraged that on the way to government buildings, where they (mostly women) come to demand the truth about their missing relatives, they are blocked by cordons of security forces – the same Ukrainians whose relatives may also be at the front or in danger or among the missing. This paradox of ‘our own against their own’ is confusing and causes an acute sense of injustice. Those who are supposed to be on the side of people, protecting their interests, become an obstacle to truth and justice.
People who once believed in the power of the state now feel that they have lost not only their relatives, but also their last faith in those who should have helped them. And while meetings are being held in government offices and new committees are being formed, desperate families continue to wait in the squares of Ukrainian cities for an answer that may never come. For them, the rally is the last chance to be heard and to force the system not to forget about those who remain in the grip of obscurity. Every day of silence is a new blow to these families. Each of the missing persons is not just an entry in the register, but a life, a memory and a hope.
