40 dead from mass grave in Izium have not been identified - National Police
Forty people from the mass grave in Izium, Kharkiv region, could not be identified because there is no DNA material for comparison from the victims’ alleged relatives.
This was stated by Serhii Bolvinov, head of the Investigation Department of the National Police in Kharkiv region, in a comment to Ukrinform, Censor.NET reports.
"Unfortunately, 40 people could not be identified, we do not know about them... We do not have passport data that would give an understanding of who they might be. We have exhumed bodies in poor condition," Bolvinov said.
He noted that in the records kept by the funeral services, there were many marks "unidentified man" and "unidentified woman".
"It's one thing when a person claims that their relative is presumed dead from a burial, gives us their surname, first name and patronymic. This is what we call a preliminary identification, because we have to legally determine very clearly that this person is a relative. To do this, we need to have a DNA match, because the condition of the bodies does not allow us to visually identify the person. Of course, if we knew the surnames and names, we would have done this work as soon as possible. To have a confirmed legal fact of death and to bury the person properly. These 40 unidentified people are likely people who had no relatives or entire families. In this regard, I appeal to the residents of Izium who remain in the city and those who have left, if they have missing relatives or believe that one of them could be in the mass grave, please contact the police," Bolvinov said.
As a reminder, after the liberation of Izium in September 2022, law enforcement officers discovered a mass grave in the forest on the outskirts of the town. According to the regional police, 449 bodies (22 soldiers and civilians, several children) were recovered from it, at least 30 of them with signs of torture.
In particular, DNA examinations confirmed that the mass grave contained the body of children's writer Volodymyr Vakulenko, who was shot dead by the invaders in the spring of 2022.
On December 28, 2022, it became known that the head of the Izium branch "Plast", Oleh Yefimenko, was also buried in the forest. Experts confirmed that the man had been tortured.
In the fall of 2023, the prosecutor's office reported that 57 victims from the mass grave could not be identified.
