Updated 4:47 p.m. Moscow Time
DONESK, September 29 (RIA Novosti) – The authorities of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) will request Russia to analyze DNA samples taken from 400 unidentifiable bodies, the republic’s first deputy prime minister said Monday.
“We have about 400 bodies mutilated beyond identification and we will ask Russian specialists to help us with DNA analysis,” Andrei Purgin said.
He added that about 350 of them are presumed to be civilians. According to Purgin, the samples are from bodies of some of the victims of the military operation in the Ukrainian eastern regions.
In April, the Ukrainian authorities launched a military operation against the independence supporters of the country's southeast that refused to accept the government that was brought on by the February coup. According to the United Nations, the conflict has killed more than 3,500 people and injured over 8,000.
On September 5 at a Contact Group meeting in Minsk, Ukrainian authorities and the self-proclaimed people's republics of Luhansk and Donetsk agreed on a ceasefire. On September 19, the participants of the talks adopted a memorandum, outlining steps for the ceasefire's implementation.
