Olena Tolkachova, the head of the Patronage Service of the Azov regiment, told about this in the Volunteers and War program on Espreso TV.
Currently, the process of identifying the soldiers who died in Mariupol is ongoing. Their bodies were returned in an exchange last week.
"Personally, I was present at four body identifications,", - Olena Tolkachova says. -This is a scary picture, we persuade relatives not to look at what is being transmitted, so that this horror does not remain in their memory. During the identification, we show only the part of the body that has a tattoo. It's very difficult for the relatives."
According to Olena Tolkacheva, the recognition process continues very slowly. There is a lack of specialists for DNA research.
"A lot of dead soldiers were brought in, most of them need to be identified through DNA," - Olena Tolkachova adds. - We don't have enough specialists who can do such complex DNA analyses. Together with the families of the dead, I plan to contact the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Max Planck Institute in Germany with an offer to cooperate, this will help speed up this process. No one expected so many dead at the same time and in such a bad condition that a DNA examination was needed."
The Patronage Service of the Azov regiment notes that many soldiers are still under the rubble of Azovstal.
"We missed a third of our fighters. This is what we checked in advance," the woman notes. - We know for sure that many soldiers still remain under the rubble of Azovstal. It can be a hundred or more. They are also buried in different parts of Mariupol. There are soldiers who could not be taken from the battlefield and at least buried in Mariupol. The search is ongoing, but it is being conducted by the Russian side."