Between 20,000 and 30,000 Ukrainians, soldiers and civilians, are considered missing since the Russian invasion in 2022. NGOs and victims' families find several gaps in the search system.
In early June, a bizarre and mysterious joint operation was carried out between two of Ukraine’s neighbors, one to the east and one to the west. Eleven Ukrainian soldiers, after having been held in Russian captivity for an unknown amount of time, were moved from Russia to Hungary. Although Ukraine and Russia have regularly exchanged prisoners of war, sometimes via third countries like Turkey and Saudi Arabia, this time, Ukraine was not informed about the operation beforehand, nor has Budapest provided any information to Kyiv about the Ukrainian citizens on its territory in the weeks following.
After Russia released some Ukrainian POWs to Hungary, they were intimidated and pressured to adopt Hungarian citizenship, the Kyiv Independent and RFE/RL reported on Aug. 1.
On 23 June, Ukraine brought back the bodies of 51 defenders killed in action. Source: Oleg Kotenko, Commissioner for Persons Missing in Special Circumstances, on Facebook Quote from Kotenko: "The bodies of servicemen who gave their lives for Ukraine have been handed over.