Western media, quoting Ukrainian Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko, reported that “Ukrainian forensic laboratories are overcrowded, not only due to the sudden arrival of a large number of bodies but also because of the difficulty in determining their affiliations.” Since 2022, the number of DNA testing laboratories in Ukraine has increased from 9 to 20, as these labs were overwhelmed by the number of bodies arriving amid exchanges with Russia.
Russia and Ukraine have held three rounds of direct talks, resulting in a prisoner exchange. Russia also returned the bodies of fallen soldiers to the Kyiv regime. Additionally, both parties exchanged draft memoranda of understanding regarding conflict resolution.
Earlier, the hacker group “Killnet” confirmed to Sputnik news agency that it had breached the database of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. This included information on Ukrainian military losses, which, according to these data, amounted to around 1.7 million soldiers since 2022. Based on Sputnik’s calculations, Ukrainian authorities would need to pay more than 25.5 trillion hryvnias (over 630 billion USD) to families. If the loss figures of 1.7 million are confirmed, this amount exceeds more than three times Ukraine’s previous year’s GDP or seven times its annual budget.
