Ukraine Approves Unified Procedure for Identifying the Deceased Military Personnel, Civilians

Ukraine’s government, led by Prime Minister Serhii Koretskyi, has formally approved a new set of rules for identifying the bodies of deceased military personnel and civilians, in an aim to speed up a process that frequently leaves families waiting between months and years.Under the new procedure, all regional teams across Ukraine must follow the same rules at every stage of the process, from the initial inspection of remains and forensic examinations to the collection of DNA samples and the documentation of each case, Koretskyi announced in a statement on Friday, Nov. 6.JOIN US ON TELEGRAMFollow our coverage of the war on the @Kyivpost_official.The government has also introduced a single coding system for case records, meant to prevent the loss of data that investigators need to establish a person’s identity.“This will help eliminate unnecessary delays, improve the quality of the investigations, and ensure smoother coordination between teams at every stage,” Koretskyi said.The procedure was jointly drafted by the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Ministry of Defense, with support from the Presidential Office.Next year’s budget to add forensic fundingKyiv announced that it is strengthening forensic expertise, with over Hr. 600 million (roughly $13 million) included in the 2027 budget.A part of that funding will go toward equipment for regional forensic bureaus, Koretskyi said.“It is important that families receive accurate information about the fate of their loved ones as quickly as possible, so they can properly say goodbye,” he continued. Other Topics of Interest ‘No Decisions on Europe Without Europe’: Sybiha, Kallas Press Russia Ahead of Abu Dhabi Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha listed security guarantees, an energy truce and the return of abducted Ukrainian children among Kyiv’s priorities for Nov. 10-11 Abu Dhabi meeting. A difficult, lengthy processAs the war approaches its fifth winter, identifying the dead has become among the most difficult tasks, mainly because bodies are often returned to Ukraine in large repatriation batches.Taras Tarasenko, a senior police investigator in Kirovohrad region – where a significant number of repatriated bodies are sent for examination – said in June that batches of up to 200 or 250 bodies can sometimes arrive at once.To keep the quality of examinations high, teams try to handle about 10 bodies a day.Then, before any identification can begin, the remains must be checked for danger. At the time, police repeatedly found grenades and other explosives hidden in the bodies of deceased Ukrainian soldiers repatriated from Russia.Specialists then search for documents, including bank cards, phones or other tags, and record features such as tattoos and clothing.The remains of several people sometimes arrive in a single bag, making the process significantly harder as the remains need to be separated first and then matched to families through visual checks and DNA testing.Because of this, the timeline can stretch for years. A match is only possible once both the family’s DNA sample and the victim’s profile are in the database, and there can be a long gap between the two.According to Tarasenko, some cases have remained unresolved since 2014.The Kirovohrad center, set up within the National Police in 2024 to search for missing persons and identify the bodies of servicemen, has 32 staff, including investigators, criminologists and cyber police. It works alongside the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), the Coordination Headquarters and forensic medical services.The identification work takes up around 90% of his unit’s working time, Tarasenko said.Part of a broader push to speed up identificationThe new procedure follows an earlier push to fix delays in the system and speed up the identification process.Head of the Presidential Office Kyrylo Budanov announced on Oct. 2 that Ukraine would create an interagency group to handle problematic identification cases.At the time, more than 26,000 bodies and remains had been repatriated to Ukraine, with a significant share of them remaining unidentified.“Why is identification proceeding so slowly, while families are forced to live in uncertainty for months and years?” Budanov said, adding that “bureaucratic delays and violations of regulations in the forensic examination system are unacceptable.”As part of the effort, Budanov said authorities would review forensic medical examination bureaus, particularly in the regions, and bring in additional international capacity for DNA testing.He also said the government would soon adopt the regulatory decisions needed to put the changes into effect. Friday’s procedure appears to be one of those decisions. Kyiv Post is Ukraine’s first and oldest English news organization, reporting since 1995. Its international reach – 90% of readers are outside of Ukraine – make it truly Ukraine’s global voice.