ANTHONY LOYD | WAR IN UKRAINE
‘We are taking you home, buddy’ — Ukraine recovers battlefield dead
Soldiers identifying the bodies of the fallen are helping to end the uncertainty endured by the families of the missing
Colonel Neshchadym leads one of several recovery teams. They treat all bodies, whether Ukrainian or Russian, the same
ANTHONY LOYD FOR THE TIMES
The Times
A Ukrainian soldier stares out from the pictures on a Facebook post. In one, he is sitting with a baby dressed in pink on his lap. The man’s head is shaven at the sides and he has a traditional Cossack lock of hair remaining as a crest. In another shot, he wears an olive baseball cap emblazoned with a shark on the front.
Thirty-eight years old, the soldier was declared missing in action in April. His wife, not knowing his fate, posted the pictures on a page used by relatives of unaccounted-for Ukrainian fighters, searching for information that could confirm whether her husband was dead or alive.
This week, an officer called and her wait ended. Her husband was not a prisoner of war but
