Investigators seeking to discover and return killed Ukrainian soldiers to their families have found explosives hidden within the bodies by Russian soldiers.
The explosives have caused major delays in returning repatriated bodies to their families for correct burials.
Taras Tarasenko, deputy head of the investigative department on the Kirovohrad Region Police Department, told news outlet Ukrinform that mandatory safety checks have needed to be put in place before investigators can begin identification work.
He said: ‘To begin with, we check whether there are any items that will pose a danger. Such cases have occurred greater than once.
‘We’ve got found explosive objects, grenades and other things, so we work as rigorously as possible.’
Kirovohrad is the house of the Centre for the Seek for Missing Individuals in Special Circumstances and the Identification of Unidentified Bodies of Servicemen.
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The bodies of lots of of Ukrainian soldiers and residents arrive every day, with the team of 32 working across the clock to make sure they will be returned to their families.
Russia was previously found to be hiding its own slain soldiers and sending their stays to Ukraine wearing Ukrainian uniforms in a bid to avoid compensating the families of the slain Russian soldiers.
Other Ukrainians have been returned home missing internal organs and with signs of obvious torture.
Ukrainian journalist Viktoriia Roshchyna was captured in 2023 in Zaporizhzhia and tortured by Russian troops.
Investigators found severe bruises, abrasions, broken bones and signs of electrical shocks.
Shockingly, Roshchyna’s brain, eyes and trachea were found to be missing during her autopsy back home.
Previously, dozens of men from military units under Russia’s command who were ‘enablers’ of unspeakable war crimes in eastern Ukraine were identified.
The occupation of Izium, 30 miles from the border with Russia, laid bare the degrees of cruelty that Vladimir Putin’s troops are able to.
Some 436 bodies – mostly of ladies and kids – were exhumed from a forest just outside Izium, days after it was recaptured by the Ukrainian military.
No less than 30 had signs of torture, with some pulled out with ropes around their necks, tied hands, broken limbs, and burn wounds. Several men had their genitals cut off.
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