The commissioner for missing persons under special circumstances, Oleh Kotenko, has told the Suspilne public broadcaster that over 7,000 servicemen in Ukraine have been reported missing.
"If we are talking about the military, let's understand who the military is. There are the Ukrainian Armed Forces, there is the National Guard, there are border guards, there is the Security Service of Ukraine, and these are different institutions. They are not included in the figure given by the Ukrainian Armed Forces. The Ukrainian Armed Forces say 2,000 people missing. Our call centre has an estimated 7,200 people [on books]," he said.
For example, the Azov regiment is part of the National Guard, subordinate to the Interior Ministry, and there are also missing people there, he explained. They did not get in touch with their relatives when they left Azovstal.
Kotenko added that most of the missing military are in captivity. He drew an example of the 1st Battalion of the 36th Brigade.
"We know that they were taken to Russia. First, we need to understand how many people are there. If they are more than a hundred, we understand that practically the whole battalion is in captivity. There is still no contact with them, so they are considered missing. Sooner or later they'll be on the exchange list and they'll come home. This is the case when we know for sure that the missing are alive," he concluded.