DNA testing has confirmed that the remains of nearly 50 Ukrainian prisoners of war match the samples of their relatives, out of 62 bodies handed over by Russia following the alleged crash of the Il-76 aircraft.
Bohdan Okhrimenko, head of the Secretariat of the Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War, shared this information in an interview with Ukrinform.
“In December, we received 62 bodies. The SBU is currently investigating the case. According to families who contacted the Coordination Headquarters, preliminary DNA testing has confirmed almost 50 matches between the remains and relatives’ samples,” Okhrimenko said.
He emphasized that Russia presented the bodies as those killed in the plane crash, but there is no evidence confirming that these individuals were actually on board.
In early 2024, an Il-76 aircraft crashed in Russia’s Belgorod region. The Russian side claimed that 65 Ukrainian prisoners of war, intended for an exchange, were on board. In December, the Coordination Headquarters reported the return of the bodies allegedly belonging to those killed in the crash.