Honoring the foreign fallen: Ukraine’s process for returning volunteers’ remains
They came to fight for Ukraine — and they died. For their families, the struggle continues. Until there is an official document confirming death, the person remains legally “alive”: relatives cannot access bank accounts and are forced to pay taxes for the deceased.
To return the body to the homeland, families must go through identification procedures, prepare documents, and organize international transportation. This is complex logistics that requires approvals and time, and sometimes significant costs.
hromadske learned how the identification process for a deceased foreigner differs from that for a Ukrainian citizen, who pays for transporting the body or ashes, and whether a foreigner can be buried in Ukraine.
“Communication with families could be better”
Ukraine cooperates with the governments of countries whose citizens serve in its military. When a military unit reports the death, missing status or capture of a foreign service member, representatives of the Ukrainian Armed Forces pass this information to the embassy or military attaché.
If there is no diplomatic representation in Ukraine for the deceased’s country, the information is transmitted to the family through Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry. Usually, the family receives official notification within a day.
Identification of deceased foreign soldiers follows the same principles as for Ukrainian citizens, but with additional international steps. After recovery from the front or as part of an exchange, the body arrives at forensic facilities, where examination begins.
Then a criminal investigation is opened, the results of identification are recorded in official documents, and experts conduct DNA testing.
The DNA route
After the body undergoes initial forensic medical examination and a DNA profile is formed, the investigator initiates the collection of comparative samples from relatives. They contact the embassy or consulate of the relevant country. Those entities ask the family to provide samples and explain the procedure.
The Interior Ministry has clarified that samples can be submitted in 12 cities across seven countries — Poland, Spain, Italy, Germany, Czechia, Slovakia, and Turkiye. This takes place at overseas branches of the state enterprise Document. For families of foreigners, the procedure is free — as is DNA testing in Ukraine.
Complications arise when biological samples need to be collected from relatives of the deceased who live in remote parts of the world. In such cases, various organizations step in, such as The Weatherman Foundation. Thanks to the foundation’s experts, Ukraine has identified 125 missing foreign fighters. The foundation arranges with family doctors in the settlements where they live to collect DNA samples. This is free for families. The samples are then sent to the nearest laboratory that cooperates with the foundation.
“There is no need to send these samples to Ukraine. Moreover, it is actually risky. The samples might not arrive in a condition suitable for analysis. Because buccal epithelium is, roughly speaking, saliva that contains the person’s data, and it requires a certain temperature, no moisture, no sun, etc. Planning logistics routes while meeting these conditions is very complicated and unjustifiably expensive,” Iryna Khoroshaieva, an employee of the foundation, told hromadske.
After analysis, the laboratory prepares an official report. It includes the name, passport details, date of birth, and the degree of kinship between the person who provided the DNA and the missing individual. The document separately contains the genetic profile — a set of markers needed for further comparison. This report is sent to the Ukrainian side, after which the investigator adds it to the criminal case file, and official matching with the profiles of the deceased is conducted on that basis.
We have cases where the guys are orphans. And right now, for example, there is a case where three hairs are the only hope for identifying this person. They are currently under examination. I pray that they can extract a DNA profile from them, because there are no biological parents. He himself is Russian. A family from France took him in and adopted him. And the father says: “Russia gave me a son, and it took him away from me.”Iryna Khoroshaieva, World Victim Identification Program Manager at The Weatherman Foundation
If the missing person has no blood relatives, personal items that have not undergone thermal processing (washing, ironing) can be used for examination. This could include a razor, a toothbrush, underwear, a hat, or a scarf.
However, while diplomatic missions can help with transmitting documents to Ukraine, they cannot help with items, says Iryna Khoroshaieva. Families must handle this themselves or turn to organizations that provide assistance.
The road home
Bodies of deceased foreign volunteers in Ukraine are sent to their homeland only after all identification procedures are completed, and it is clear exactly who the person is. A package of documents is prepared in Ukraine, including a Ukrainian-format death certificate, medical documents indicating the cause of death, and other certificates required for international transportation.
If the deceased is a citizen of another country, the embassy may issue a death certificate in accordance with its country’s standards. In the end, the family receives a complete set of papers that allows burial in accordance with the laws of their country.
Before departure, a farewell ceremony takes place in Ukraine. It is organized by the military unit in which the deceased served. The Weatherman Foundation reports that it also helps organize ceremonies. Most often, they are held on Independence Square in Kyiv.
Then the family decides whether the body or ashes will go home. This often depends on religious traditions. If they choose to transport the body, it is embalmed, and a medical document confirming the absence of dangerous infections is prepared. If they choose cremation, the urn containing the ashes is transported.
“You cannot put anything else in the coffin or the urn with ashes; there should be no foreign objects. That means the person’s body will travel completely without anything — without uniform, chevrons, awards,” noted the foundation’s employee.
Such transportation is handled as special cargo and is subject to customs procedures. The route is coordinated with carriers, and an escort is assigned if needed.
Logistics here can be complicated. Not all airlines handle such shipments, and flights often require connections. Adding weather conditions or schedule changes can sometimes make the process take longer than expected.
There is a certain prioritization of cargo. First is live animals, second is food, and third is “Cargo 200 (‘KIA’).” So if, for example, on a flight from Chisinau to Istanbul there is already a live animal, they will not put a coffin on that plane. You have to find that slot where it can be done. Iryna Khoroshaieva, World Victim Identification Program Manager at The Weatherman Foundation
When the body returns to the country of citizenship, burial is at the family's discretion and in compliance with local laws. If it involves a service member, the ceremony is usually accompanied by military honors — even if the person was not a professional soldier, communities or veteran groups often honor him as a hero.
The military unit covers the costs of transporting the body or ashes to the deceased’s homeland. It pays for the main international flight, for example, Katowice to Washington. Domestic flights within the country of residence (for example, from Washington to Ohio) are not reimbursed by Ukraine. Those expenses fall on relatives, partners, donors, or charitable foundations.
“We are that bridge between the airline and the family waiting for the repatriated body. We try to coordinate the best and most appropriate route so that loved ones do not experience stress when receiving the body at the airport,” explains Iryna Khoroshaieva.
However, not all bodies of deceased foreigners are returned home. Sometimes, families or the volunteers themselves want a burial in Ukraine. One such case occurred last year in Mykolaiv, where a foreign volunteer was buried who was Colombian by origin but had lived in Germany since childhood and essentially did not know his homeland.
“He [during his life] said he would like half of his ashes scattered over Ukraine and half buried. We consulted with his mom on how best to do it, because, honestly, going out into a field and scattering them — that is kind of meh. We had to think of something beautiful, on his level, because he was a hero…
And I arranged with the Air Force of Ukraine, and they conducted a ceremony from a helicopter, scattering the ashes in the sky over Donetsk Oblast, where he died. The other half [of the ashes] was buried in Mykolaiv — we organized a memorial run with flags together with volunteers,” recalls Iryna Khoroshaieva.
This case became a precedent for the foundation to figure out who pays for burial in such situations. It turned out that local communities provide burial plots free of charge for both Ukrainian soldiers and foreigners. So for families of foreigners, burial on Ukrainian territory is free.
“In fact, it is very important to see this kind of satisfaction for the foreign guys who did not have to come to Ukraine to do this, but they did it,” says Iryna Khoroshaieva. “Because some of us cross the Tysa River, while others cross the Polish or Romanian border to defend us.”