More than 15,000 people have gone missing during the war in Ukraine, according to an official from the International Commission on Missing Persons (ICMP). It is reported by Reuters.
ICMP Program Director for Europe Matthew Holliday said it is unclear how many people have been forcibly displaced, are being held in Russia, are alive and separated from their families, or have died and been buried in makeshift graves.
According to him, 15,000 missing is a very preliminary estimate, given that in Mariupol alone, according to official figures, up to 25,000 people died or went missing.
“The numbers are huge and the challenges Ukraine faces are huge. The main thing now is to take all necessary measures to ensure that as many people as possible are identified, ”said Holliday.
ICMP – based in The Hague, it was created after the Balkan wars of the 1990s. In July, the organization opened an office in Kyiv to help Ukraine document and search for missing persons.