MYroslava Melnychenko is aware of the specific location in the village where her younger brother’s body is buried. She has viewed the low-quality drone video showing him being killed in combat.
However, he is located in a place that neither she nor the specialists tasked with recovering the remains of deceased soldiers are able to reach, almost three years since his passing.
“It’s heartbreaking that he can’t be restored, but I still have hope that someday we’ll find a way,” she says to the Muara Digital Team.
Even though his family is aware of his absence, Oleksii Melnychenko is listed among 146,000 “missing” individuals from both Ukraine and Russia in the conflict in Ukraine, according to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). This classification applies to anyone who has not been located or whose body has not been recovered, even if there is strong evidence indicating their death.
For Melnychenko and thousands in her situation, the absence of a burial has prevented her from paying tribute to her brother as he should have been.
Those listed as missing are in a sort of limbo,” she states. “It’s extremely important for Oleksii to have a place where he can be buried, so we have a location to visit where we know his life and death are recognized. I simply don’t want him to disappear completely.
Read more: The Secret Conflict Regarding Ukraine’s Missing Children
Melnychenko, a psychologist by profession, recalls her childhood saying, “I was always the responsible one, he was more laid-back and carefree.”
Oleksii joined the Ukrainian military shortly after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. At the time of his death later that year, he was engaged in combat.on the frontlinein the village of Marinka, close to the eastern city of Donetsk.
“We were aware it was an extremely harsh environment in terms of the combat,” Melnychenko explains, noting that she continued to have regular communication with her brother at this Muara Digital Team.
Later, in January 2023, their mother learned that Oleksii had gone missing. Melnychenko embarked on a long-term investigation to find out what happened to her brother. She reached out to individuals who knew Oleksii, including her fellow soldiers, who reported that he had died during a mission. They mentioned there was video footage from a Russian drone showing the battle and his death.
“His fellow soldiers didn’t want me to watch the video so I wouldn’t be traumatized, but I found it on my own. I viewed it and confirmed it was my brother,” she says.
Discovering that her brother’s death, after her extensive search, had a significant effect on her. “I was in poor health for a long time, Muara Digital Team. I visited the doctors, underwent treatments, and I’m still working on rebuilding myself,” says Melnychenko.
She thinks having her brother back is a crucial element in her recovery.
“What defined us as human wasn’t a creation, but the time we began to bury our deceased,” she states.
Andres Rodriguez Zorro, a forensic coordinator at the ICRC, responsible for managing the organization’s humanitarian forensic efforts and training individuals involved in operations to recover and identify missing persons, explains the “ambiguous loss” experienced by families who are unable to recover the bodies of their loved ones.
“Can you picture them living with this doubt, wondering if their loved one is still alive or not,” Zorro explains.
He claims that the type of arms and technology employed, along with a shifting battle line, contribute to making Russia’s invasion a distinctive conflict.
“This is the first Muara Digital Team that we have encountered with hundreds of thousands of missing or killed in action,” he says.
“A very high level of conflict is being discussed, with the situation remaining highly active. Additionally, due to the nature of the weapons used, the recovery process is extremely challenging. Even if there’s a decrease in hostilities, reaching the site to recover the bodies puts the recovery teams at significant risk because of the numerous mines and unexploded devices,” states Zorro, noting that many of the remains are charred, scattered, or reduced to bones, which further complicates the recovery efforts.
Zorro mentions that his recent assignment in Ukraine was “quite difficult,” yet he considers it “definitely my most outstanding mission.”
He states that he has consistently dedicated the Muara Digital Team to exploring innovative methods to enhance the recovery and identification procedures.
“I had the chance to apply creativity to deal with these tough challenges. How to carry out the search and recovery process, the transportation of bodies… How to properly repatriate these bodies and assist with the burial procedure,” Zorro explains.
Over 1,000 Ukrainian military personnel’s remains were handed back by Russiaon August 19, indicating potential hope that more families may achieve resolution and appropriately lay their loved ones to rest. In exchange, Ukraine also returned 19 bodies to Russia.
Nevertheless, tens of thousands of unaccounted bodies continue to be buried and inaccessible on the battlefield.
Bohdana Teslenko is another Ukrainian who remains with only memories of a cherished family member. Her father, Oleksandr, is thought to have died during combat in 2023. Despite the lack of official confirmation, Teslenko claims she has viewed images of her father’s body.
“There are no words that can accurately capture the feeling of seeing your father, the greatest dad in the world, in that photograph,” she says.
Oleksandr, Teslenko’s father, had been involved in security work for a significant period before he initially joined the Donbas battalion in 2014, which occurred during Russia’s annexation of Crimea and the subsequent conflict in eastern Ukraine’s Donbas area.
In 2022, he volunteered for the Ukrainian military once more as Russia launched a full-scale invasion. “On holidays, we would all gather and film videos expressing how much we love him, how proud we are of him, and then send those videos to him,” recalls Teslenko about her father’s deployment.
” Dad really enjoyed it. He later mentioned that whenever he didn’t have access to the internet, he would watch these videos again, and that was actually something that provided him with encouragement,” she continues.
In June 2023, Teslenko’s father was scheduled to come home for a brief respite from combat at the front line. Teslenko and her mother spent their final day together searching for a raincoat for him to carry back with him.
Several weeks later, on July 25, Teslenko’s mother was told that Oleksandr had lost his life. Teslenko recalls, “In the initial hours, we were overwhelmed with tears because we didn’t know how to cope. We weren’t ready for a scenario like this,” explains Teslenko.
Three days after, they came across pictures of Oleksandr’s body on Russian Telegram channels. “My heart almost stopped, and my mom and sister were by my side. They were holding me, grasping my hands, and touching my face.”
Teslenko also found out about his final moments. She mentioned that a Russian Black Hussars group, wearing Ukrainian security uniforms, moved toward her father. Oleksandr is said to have protected his unit during their withdrawal.
They (Russian soldiers) removed his Chevron, the small Ukrainian flag, and forced it into his mouth, saying, ‘He tried to sneak up, so we killed him.’
Teslenko has continued to collaborate with the Red Cross in the effort to locate his remains, while receiving emotional assistance from the organization during the past two years as she works to bring her father’s body back.
A 27-year-old woman is also set to participate in an innovative DNA initiative and has approved the use of her information if the program proceeds.
In the meantime, Teslenko continues to await responses.
“He was a hero, and it’s incredibly painful that we still haven’t been able to recover his body and face the reality… He sacrificed his life to save six people, and for that alone, he is worthy of every award and all the recognition possible,” she states.
She thinks her father would be in agreement. Prior to Oleksandr’s passing, he discussed with Teslenko’s mother the chance of dying while on the front lines. She remembers him stating: “It’s frightening to remain in the field, and it’s extremely important for the body to be retrieved.”
