Almost 38,000 people are considered missing under special circumstances in Ukraine
Currently, the Unified Register of Persons Missing under Special Circumstances contains the data of about 38,000 Ukrainians. It contains data on both military personnel and civilians.
This was reported by Olena Beliachkova, coordinator of the Groups of Families of Prisoners of War of the NGO "Media Initiative for Human Rights" (MIPHR), at a press conference at the Ukrainian mission to the OSCE in Vienna, Censor.NET reports citing Ukrinform.
"Today, the number of missing persons is officially almost 38,000 - this is the figure included in the Unified Register of Persons Missing in Special Circumstances, according to the applications submitted by the relatives of the missing persons," Beliachkova said.
At the same time, the MIPHR coordinator stressed that the actual number of missing persons may be higher, as the statistics do not take into account people whose disappearance has not been reported.
For example, the missing person had no relatives to report the disappearance, or the person or their relatives were under occupation, where there is no access to Ukrainian state registers.
Beliachkova added that the register of missing persons under special circumstances includes not only missing military personnel, but also civilians, both adults and children. The register also contains data on bodies that have not yet been identified and are being tested for DNA matches.
The MIPHR representative pointed out that such a large number of missing persons is due, in particular, to the fact that Russia does not provide any information about the prisoners of war it has captured, as well as about the civilian hostages it has unreasonably detained.
