The most modern DNA laboratory started its work in the city of Izyum
The temporary occupation of the settlement lasted from March 7 to September 10, 2022. For five months, the armed formations of the Russian Federation carried out massive shelling of the city and its surroundings with various types of weapons, killing and torturing residents. After the liberation of the city, employees of the Izyum district police department of the GUNP in the Kharkiv region received information about the presence of a place of mass burial of people who were victims of war crimes committed by the occupiers and the collaborationist authorities.
Many bodies have been exhumed, some still unidentified. Since the beginning of September, police have already exhumed more than 900 bodies. The largest number of them is in Izyum. 451 bodies were recovered at the site of mass burial. An estimated 200 more bodies are in the identification stage.
Thanks to the obtained laboratory complexes, the process of identification of bodies will be significantly accelerated, the time for DNA examinations will be reduced.
Deputy Head of the GUNP in Kharkiv Oblast — Head of Investigative Department Sergey Bolvinov said that molecular genetic examinations are assigned to all exhumed bodies.
“The received equipment will speed up this process. It will happen at the same time. This state-of-the-art equipment will allow you to do a comparative DNA test within a day. Currently, samples are being taken from humans. At once, we can perform 5 such tests. The results will be stored on a flash drive and then compared with the samples that we select in the exhumed bodies. And we will make an automatic comparison,” Sergey Bolvinov explained. In
Ukraine there was one such laboratory, now there are five of them. Four already work in Kharkiv region. The complexes are mobile, so they can be moved to any place in the area.
According to the head of the GUNP in the Kharkiv region Vladimir Timoshko, now investigators of the investigative department are working in Izyum.
“A significant number of people are waiting to learn about the fate of their loved ones. Therefore, in carrying out the work of establishing family ties or identifying the dead in Izyum, investigators carry out a humanitarian mission. Today, the first laboratory of the four that came to us started work. These laboratories will start working in all corners of the de-occupied region,” Volodymyr Tymoshko said. The
head of the Kharkiv police thanked public figure and American businessman Howard Graham Buffett, who visited the de-occupied territories in November, in particular Izyum, for providing police DNA Laboratories and 300 chips for analysis.
National Police of Ukraine
