Ukraine considers 55,000 citizens as missing persons

Ukraine has 55,000 citizens in its unified register for persons missing under special circumstances, Deputy Interior Minister Leonid Tymchenko told Ukrinform in an interview published on Sept. 26.
The register includes people who have disappeared due to war, occupation, or natural and man-made disasters.
The figure underscores the humanitarian impact of Russia’s full-scale war, which has brought illegal deportations, kidnappings, and a large number of deaths among both the military and civilians in Ukraine.
“The register contains information about 55,000 people. Most of them are military personnel. This figure is quite dynamic: when the whereabouts of missing persons are established, in some cases, it turns out that a citizen, for example, is in captivity,” Tymchenko said.
“Unfortunately, we also identify the dead among those who were considered missing,” he added.
The latest figure shows a considerable growth since July, when the Interior Ministry revealed that 42,000 Ukrainians were considered missing.
This number does not include Ukrainian children forcibly deported to Russia, Belarus, or occupied territories, whose numbers exceed 19,500.