It's more than a year since Anastasiia Tsvietkova's husband went missing fighting the Russians near the eastern city of Pokrovsk, and she doesn't know whether he's alive or dead.

Russia does not routinely provide information about those captured or killed, and there has been no news from fellow soldiers or the International Red Cross, which can sometimes visit prisoner-of-war camps.

If Yaroslav Kachemasov was indeed killed on the front, then the recent repatriation of thousands of bodies might at least allow Tsvietkova to grieve.

The 29-year-old dentist living in Kyiv submitted a sample of her husband's DNA, filled in dozens of forms, wrote letters and joined social media groups as she sought information.

Kachemasov, 37, went missing during his second combat mission near Pokrovsk, which Russia has been attacking for months. The place where he disappeared is now occupied by Russia.

Since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, hundreds of thousands have been killed or wounded on both sides. At least 70,000 Ukrainian soldiers and civilians have been reported missing.

In the last four months, more than 7,000 mostly unidentified bodies have been brought to Ukraine in refrigerated rail cars and trucks as piles of white plastic sacks.

Reuters spoke to eight experts including police investigators, the interior minister, Ukrainian and international forensic scientists and volunteers, and visited a forensic DNA laboratory in Kyiv.

Many of the bodies are decaying or in fragments, so such labs are key to identifying them. But the process of establishing and matching each DNA profile can take many months.

As well as being a logistical challenge, the sudden influx of remains has served as a reminder of Ukraine's losses.

Authorities in Kyiv and Moscow have been generally tight-lipped about the overall numbers of soldiers killed and wounded.

In June, the U.S.-based Center for Strategic and International Studies estimated that more than 950,000 Russians had been killed or wounded in the war so far, against 400,000 Ukrainians.

According to official figures, as of last month Ukraine had received 11,744 bodies. But 6,060 of these came in June alone, and another 1,000 in August.

Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko accused Russia of complicating the identification process by handing over some of the bodies in a disorderly way.

"We have many cases, probably hundreds, when we have remains of one person in one bag, then in a second and in a third," he said at his ministry.

Klymenko also said Ukraine had so far identified at least 20 bodies belonging to Russian servicemen - something for which Medinsky said there was no evidence.

The Moscow Defence Ministry did not respond to a request for comment.

Tsvietkova doesn't want her husband identified by his DNA. "I top up his (mobile phone) account every month so that he gets to keep his phone number. I write to him every day, telling him how my day went, because when he returns there will be a whole chronology of events that I lived through all this time, without him."

DESCRIPCIÓN DE IMÁGENES

KYIV, UKRAINE (FILE - AUGUST 6, 2025) (REUTERS - Access all)

1. WIFE OF UKRAINIAN SOLDIER MISSING IN ACTION, ANASTASIIA TSVIETKOVA, 29-YEAR-OLD DENTIST / PHOTOGRAPH OF HER HUSBAND YAROSLAV KACHEMASOV, 37 YEARS OLD

2. WEDDING RING ON TSVIETKOVA'S HAND / PHOTOGRAPH OF KACHEMASOV

3. (SOUNDBITE) (Ukrainian) WIFE OF UKRAINIAN SOLDIER MISSING IN ACTION, ANASTASIIA TSVIETKOVA, 29-YEAR-OLD DENTIST, SAYING:

"He wanted to go to the front line together with his brothers-in-arms. About a year ago, after they had passed their one-month-long training, he went to the Pokrovsk front."

4. TSVIETKOVA'S WEDDING RING

5. (SOUNDBITE) (Ukrainian) WIFE OF UKRAINIAN SOLDIER MISSING IN ACTION, ANASTASIIA TSVIETKOVA, 29-YEAR-OLD DENTIST, SAYING:

"July 15, it was his second combat sortie, he recorded a video message saying 'I love you very much, I will be back in 5-6 days. I won't have connection, I will be back soon.' And about 7 days later I got a call from the military office, and they said 'You might already know, it's about your husband.' I said no. They say he is missing in action. 'Come over and get the documents.'"

6. TSVIETKOVA HOLDING PHOTOGRAPHS OF HER AND KACHEMASOV, SAYING (Ukrainian): "This is from the last time we saw each other." JOURNALIST ASKING (Ukrainian): "When was this?" / TSVETKOVA SAYING (Ukrainain): "This was two months before he was was missing in action."

7. PHOTOGRAPHS OF TSVIETKOVA AND KACHEMASOV, TSVETKOVA SAYING (Ukrainian): "I went to see him."

8. (SOUNDBITE) (Ukrainian) WIFE OF UKRAINIAN SOLDIER MISSING IN ACTION, ANASTASIIA TSVIETKOVA, 29-YEAR-OLD DENTIST, SAYING:

"I'm waiting for him no matter what. Of course, I'm waiting for Yaroslav to come back alive. I top up his (mobile phone) account every month so that he gets to keep his phone number. I write to him every day, telling him how my day went, because when he returns there will be a whole chronology of events that I lived through all this time, without him."

9. VARIOUS OF TSVIETKOVA GOING THROUGH PICTURES OF KACHEMASOV ON HER PHONE

10. (SOUNDBITE) (Ukrainian) WIFE OF UKRAINIAN SOLDIER MISSING IN ACTION, ANASTASIIA TSVIETKOVA, 29-YEAR-OLD DENTIST, SAYING:

"The uncertainty has been the toughest. You're day-in-day-out with your loved one for 11 years, but now there is such an information vacuum that you simply don't know anything at all. Of course, you hope for the best, but..."

11. DOCUMENTS, PICTURES

12. (SOUNDBITE) (Ukrainian) WIFE OF UKRAINIAN SOLDIER MISSING IN ACTION, ANASTASIIA TSVIETKOVA, 29-YEAR-OLD DENTIST, SAYING:

"Almost every day in our (chat) groups they write that bodies are being returned from Novoselivka. They are identifying them and returning. Especially now, in the last six months, they (authorities) have started to return and identify bodies very actively."

KYIV, UKRAINE (FILE - JUNE 26, 2025) (REUTERS - Access all)

13. VARIOUS OF TRUCK CARRYING BODILY REMAINS OF UKRAINIAN SOLDIERS RELEASED BY RUSSIA ARRIVING MORGUE

14. FORENSIC WORKERS OPENING DOORS OF TRUCK

15. VARIOUS OF FORENSIC WORKERS INSPECTING BODILY REMAINS, CARRYING THEM INSIDE MORGUE

NEAR KYIV, UKRAINE (FILE - JULY 1, 2025) (REUTERS - Access all)

16. FORENSIC EXPERT INSIDE LABORATORY, WALKING, POINTING TOWARDS BONE THAT IS BEING ANALYSED

17. BONE

18. VARIOUS OF FORENSIC WORKER TAKING DNA SAMPLE FROM BONE

19. FORENSIC WORKER

20. (SOUNDBITE) (Ukrainian) DEPUTY HEAD OF UKRAINE'S STATE FORENSIC CENTRE, RUSLAN ABBASOV, SAYING:

"It was a shock for us. Because we were used to one, two, three, 10 (bodies), and they would come in slowly. But when they started coming in, it was in addition to repatriated bodies - we also deal with combat casualties. For example, there's a dead person for which there are a bunch of witnesses, but without DNA examination the investigator cannot and does not want to take the risk and give away, God forbid, the wrong body."

21. VARIOUS OF FORENSIC WORKER EXAMINING SAMPLE

22. (SOUNDBITE) (Ukrainian) DEPUTY HEAD OF UKRAINE'S STATE FORENSIC CENTRE, RUSLAN ABBASOV, SAYING:

"We thought 500 bodies was a lot, then there were 900, then 909 and so on. Well, it is clear that for us 6 thousand created another new challenge. But we did not sit and wait for them (other agencies) telling us there will be a thousand, or even three (thousand). We were growing, these laboratories can increase their capacities."

23. FORENSIC WORKER DISINFECTING WORK TOOL

24. SAMPLE

25. FORENSIC WORKER HOLDING SAMPLE

26. (SOUNDBITE) (Ukrainian) DEPUTY HEAD OF UKRAINE'S STATE FORENSIC CENTRE, RUSLAN ABBASOV, SAYING:

"We do not abandon our attempts and hopes. When people say 'why do they delay the identification of repatriated bodies', in fact we do not delay the process; we simply do not give up. When we do not succeed (to find a match), we do not give up this expertise, but we constantly come back to it, 5, 7, 10 or even 30 times."

27. VARIOUS OF FORENSIC EXPERT ON LABORATORY

28. SAMPLE

29. (SOUNDBITE) (Ukrainian) DEPUTY HEAD OF UKRAINE'S STATE FORENSIC CENTRE, RUSLAN ABBASOV, SAYING:

"These are individual cases, but there are dozens of them and they exist. And we need to come back to them, because this is someone's fate, this is someone's dear and close person."

30. VARIOUS OF FORENSIC WORKERS AT COMPUTER

31. (SOUNDBITE) (Ukrainian) DEPUTY HEAD OF UKRAINE'S STATE FORENSIC CENTRE, RUSLAN ABBASOV, SAYING:

"The large volumes (of bodies arriving) are really shocking. I think it's shocking not only families and society, it's shocking us too, because it's a huge disaster and at the same time grief."

KYIV, UKRAINE (FILE - JUNE 26, 2025) (REUTERS - Access all)

32. VARIOUS OF FORENSIC WORKERS UNLOADING BODILY REMAINS RETURNED BY RUSSIA

KYIV, UKRAINE (FILE - JUNE 18, 2025) (REUTERS - Access all)

33. (SOUNDBITE) (Ukrainian) UKRAINIAN INTERIOR MINISTER, IHOR KLYMENKO, SAYING:

"Very often we receive only partial remains of bodies. We have many cases, probably hundreds, when we have remains of one person in three different bags."

INTERNET (SEPTEMBER 15, 2025) (REUTERS - Access all)

34. TEXT READING (English): "Russia's defence ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment."

KYIV, UKRAINE (FILE - JUNE 26, 2025) (REUTERS - Access all)

35. FORENSIC WORKERS UNLOADING BODILY REMAINS RETURNED BY RUSSIA

KYIV, UKRAINE (FILE - JUNE 18, 2025) (REUTERS - Access all)

36. (SOUNDBITE) (Ukrainian) UKRAINIAN INTERIOR MINISTER, IHOR KLYMENKO, SAYING:

"Sometimes we even have cases when in one repatriation, some remains of or soldier come in, and another part (of the soldier's body) in the next repatriation. This imposes very serious responsibility on those experts who perform the autopsy and examination of these bodies."

ODESA, UKRAINE (SEPTEMBER 4, 2025) (REUTERS - Access all)

37. VARIOUS OF FORENSIC WORKERS AT TRAIN WAGON LOADED WITH BODILY REMAINS RETURNED BY RUSSIA

KYIV, UKRAINE (FILE - JUNE 17, 2025) (REUTERS - Access all)

38. (SOUNDBITE) (English) FORENSIC COORDINATOR AT INTERNATIONAL COMMITTEE OF THE RED CROSS, ANDRES RODRIGUEZ ZORRO, SAYING:

"They decided to use trains in this case (repatriation of remains of Ukrainian soldiers), and the cooperation was, I would say, successful. I would say it met all the best practices and international standards in terms of respect of the dignity of the dead, traceability, and facility of identification."

ODESA, UKRAINE (SEPTEMBER 4, 2025) (REUTERS - Access all)

39. VARIOUS OF FORENSIC WORKERS TRANSPORTING BODILY REMAINS ON GURNEY

40. TETIANA PAPIZH, HEAD OF THE ODESA BUREAU OF FORENSIC MEDICAL EXAMINATION, ENTERING TENT

41. (SOUNDBITE) (Ukrainian) HEAD OF THE ODESA BUREAU OF FORENSIC MEDICAL EXAMINATION, TETIANA PAPIZH, SAYING:

"We have to do this because we are standing here now, on our land, in an independent stat, thanks to them and every fallen hero. We have to 100% restore their names and return the bodies of the fallen to their families."

42. BONE

43. VARIOUS OF FORENSIC WORKERS EXAMINING REMAINS

44. FORENSIC WORKER SHOWING PROJECTILE HE FOUND AMONG REMAINS