on March 30, 2022. Nearly three years later, he still hasn’t been in touch. The Ukrainian combat medic disappeared aged 33 in Mariupol, the eastern Ukrainian city that was then under siege in one of the bloodiest chapters in the Russian war against Ukraine.

On April 12, 2022, Ocheretnyi’s mother, Valentyna Ocheretnaya, was officially informed that her son was missing in action, “possibly captured.” Despite his 61-year-old mother’s tireless search, as of March 2025 he remains neither confirmed dead nor known to be alive.

Ocheretnyi is one of the almost 60,000 military personnel and civilians recognized as missing under special circumstances in the government’s Unified Register. However, the real number could be much higher.

“If the person is in the register - there are two main versions - the person either is in Russian captivity, or the person is dead,” said Artur Dobroserdov, Commissioner for Persons Missing under Special Circumstances.

But the longer the war continues, the more difficult it is for the Ukrainian government to find those who were captured or killed.

The way the war is fought has also changed since 2022. Both armies now use drones extensively, so returning bodies from the front lines is increasingly difficult – which is why Russia and Ukraine regularly exchange bodies. Ukraine has managed to bring home more than 7,000 bodies since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

“All military units know that they have to take the bodies of both our defenders and the enemy. If taken, the enemy’s body is an asset for the ‘exchange fund’ to be used in (a) repatriation procedure,” said Dobroserdov.

During the last such repatriation, on February 14, Ukraine brought home the bodies of 757 fallen soldiers. But for their relatives, that still wasn’t the moment when they could finally bury their beloved according to Ukrainian traditions. (CNN)