Ukrainian police find 16,502 dead in 10 regions since start of Russia’s full-scale invasion

This is stated in response to an information request from ZMINA to the Main Investigation Department of the National Police of Ukraine.

"In 2022, 16,502 people died as a result of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The National Police found 21 mass graves in the de-occupied territories, where 1,033 bodies of civilians and soldiers were exhumed," the information reads.

Thus, according to the police, most of the dead were found in Donetsk region - 4,746 people, in Kharkiv region - 3,784, in Mykolaiv region - 2,207, in Kyiv region - 2072, in Chernihiv region- 899, in Luhansk region - 815, in Kherson region - 686, in Sumy region - 341, in Zhytomyr region - 283, in Zaporizhzhia region - 66.

It is reported that 21 mass graves were found on the liberated territories, including 3 in Donetsk region (278 civilians and 37 servicemen of the Armed Forces of Ukraine were exhumed), 14 in Kyiv region (177 people were exhumed), 2 in Kharkiv region (451 civilians and 44 servicemen of the Armed Forces of Ukraine were exhumed), 2 in Kherson region (46 people were exhumed).

"Of this number, most of the bodies have gunshot wounds and mine-blast injuries (it is impossible to indicate the exact number of such persons due to the incomplete expert studies intended to establish the causes of death)," the response to the media request states.

In particular, the Ukrainian Prosecutor General's Office notes that they do not keep records of the number of dead found in the buildings and streets of the liberated territories.