Over 7,000 Ukrainian soldiers missing - commissioner

Ukraine's commissioner for persons who disappeared under special circumstances, Oleh Kotenko, told this to Suspilne, Ukrinform reports.

"If we are talking about the military, then let's understand who the military are. There is the Ukrainian Armed Forces, there is the National Guard, there are border guards, there is SBU and these are different institutions. They are not included in the figure given by the Ukrainian Armed Forces. The Ukrainian Armed Forces provide data on 2,000 missing soldiers. Our call center registered about 7,200 people. For example, the Azov regiment is part of the National Guard [subordinate to the Interior Ministry] and there are also missing persons. They did not contact their relatives when they left Azovstal," Kotenko said.

According to him, most of the missing soldiers are alive and held in captivity. In particular, these are fighters of the first battalion of the 36th Marine Brigade. "We know that they were taken to Russia. First, we need to understand how many people are there. If there are more than a hundred of them, then we understand that almost the entire battalion is in captivity. There is still no contact with them, so they are considered missing. Eventually, they will be on the list for exchange and they will return home. This is the case when we know for sure that those missing are alive," Kotenko said.