Recovering and Identifying Bodies in Ukraine 'Likely To Continue for Years'

Bodies of those killed in the conflict in Ukraine are being left to decompose for so long they are no longer identifiable.

According to a paper published in the journal Forensic Science International: Synergy in August 2022, Ukrainian forensic scientists have had to work extra hard to reach bodies before they decay. The time between death and the discovery of casualties involved in disasters like Russia's invasion of Ukraine can result in problems with identification, due to the bodies' decomposition.

The war in Ukraine began on February 24, 2022, when Russia invaded its neighboring country, and in the months since, the United Nations (UN) has estimated casualties numbering 14,059 civilians, 5,767 of which were killed. Many of the dead have been buried in mass graves.

"In any disaster zone the identification of the dead, whether fatalities are caused by accident, terrorism or war, is a priority—and forensic science (DNA, odontology, anthropology etc) sits front and center in that identification process," Patrick S. Randolph-Quinney, an associate professor of forensic science at Northumbria University in the U.K., told Newsweek. "The role of forensic science has been made central to the ID process through international organizations such as INTERPOL, the International Committee of the Red Cross, and the International Commission on Missing Persons."

According to the paper, Ukraine's forensic response, as well as international agencies, has been working tirelessly since the beginning of the conflict to treat the deceased with "dignity and with ultimate resolution of identity."

The issue with identifying the dead lies within the fact that human bodies become increasingly unrecognizable as they transition through the stages of decay, the rate of which depends on the environment surrounding the body.

Around four minutes after an individual dies, the body begins to decompose, passing through autolysis, bloat, active decay, and skeletonization. The body's cells begin to digest themselves and burst, the organs swell as bacteria produce gasses, and insects begin to lay eggs in orifices like wounds or genitals. These eggs then hatch, with the larva rapidly breaking down parts of the body that are used to identify an individual, like the face and fingerprints.

The degree to which various body parts decay depends enormously on the conditions the body is found in. Temperature and humidity are especially crucial, with local insect populations also affecting the rate of insect-based decomposition. Sometimes, a body can be unrecognizable in a matter of days.

"I've worked on homicide cases where you've got a body partially buried," said Randolph-Quinney. "[Under the soil, the body was] basically protected from insects and a little bit cooler, meaning that you don't get that kind of gas exchange with the environment. [The lady's head] was above ground level, and she was more or less completely skeletonized in her face, with a lot of insect activity there, maggot masses and those kinds of things. And that was within three or four days of death."

The rate of decay also depends on the person's clothing or containment, which can create drastically different decomposition rates on different parts of the body.

"I've seen a case in South Africa, where a body was found in a suitcase that had floated down a river," Randolph-Quinney said. "Areas of that were mummified, some of it was skeletonized. Some of it was pretty unpleasant. So, you can have all those things going on in the same kind of environment."

Other than fingerprints and facial recognition, bodies can also be identified using dental records, and in recent years, DNA identification. However, dental records require the individual to have been to the dentist at some point and also have their jaw area relatively intact, which in a warzone might not be the case. Additionally, DNA identification needs some DNA to match against, often taken from family members in traditional criminal investigations. This is again much harder in the wake of a war.

Despite these difficulties, as well as the dangers of going into conflict zones, Ukraine's forensic efforts intend to identify as many casualties as possible.

"Ukrainian forensic and medico-legal structures continue to function, even if at an altered capacity, and are well supported by their chosen international partners. The work to recover, identify and bury the dead is likely to continue for years after the conclusion of the war given the volume of casualties and the potential for criminal investigations to investigate war crimes at scale," wrote the authors in the paper.