About 42,000 people have been declared missing in Ukraine, a representative of the Ukrainian Ministry of Internal Affairs said today, quoted by DPA. The data includes both military and civilians, BTA reported.
Earlier, their number was around 51,000, Dmytro Bohatyuk, who heads the ministry's department dealing with missing persons, told Ukrinform.
After Russia invaded in February 2022, many Ukrainians were killed in attacks, displaced by fighting, or forcibly taken to Russian territory. About one fifth of Ukraine is occupied by Russia.
The number of missing has decreased after thousands of them were declared prisoners of war, Bohatyuk said. Another difficulty is the identification of the dead found on the battlefield.
Bohatyuk said the Defense Ministry does not take genetic samples from the soldiers it sends to the battlefield.