ICRC clarification in Ukrainian

Case study how some #Ukraine channels create incendiary fakes, likely in order to boost their engagements:

11 May Ukraine’s ICRC channel with 3k subscribers publishes a short, routine post[^1] with an attached video documenting a story of a mother whose son disappeared in 2022:

As of April 2025, we have received 400,000 requests from families searching for their missing loved ones.

Please note the words they used - and those they didn’t use - because it’s important.

29 May the post is picked up by a Ukrainian channel “Хлопці з ППО | РАДАР” (Boys from air defense - radar) with ~180k subscribers. The channel is private, which is why I can only provide screenshot, not a link. Their post quotes ICRC but it broadcasts a dramatically different message:

400 thousands Ukrainian soldiers disappeared without trace - shocking data from ICRC for April.

This message spreads on other channels and media because, of course, it’s very controversial and shocking. Except it’s 100% false:

ICRC did not say a word of “soldiers”, it was invented by the channel’s admin
ICRC did not say a word of “Ukrainian soldiers”, it was also added
ICRC did not even speak of missing people, their message talks about “requests”

30 May ICRC published a statement[^2] clarifying their original post where they explain that 400’000 is the total number of requests (emails, telephones, personal visits) from both sides (Ukraine and Russia) asking for help in locating their missing relatives. ICRC also added that the number of “open requests for search of persons” is 116’000, which is probably approximate number of people (see below) missing from both sides.

Now, because Russians are the aggressors in this war and they are mostly getting killed on the territory in Ukraine, it’s natural that their families contact Ukrainian Red Cross to locate them. Almost all “Russian persons missing in Ukraine” will be therefore Russian soldiers.

With Ukraine it’s completely different: thousands of Ukrainian civilians went missing as result of Russian bombing, occupation, filtration camps, arrests and forced deportations. And only then on top of that there’s also the Ukrainian soldiers who are missing because they were either killed or taken POW on the territories taken by Russians.

So any number published by ICRC cannot be interpreted exclusively as “missing Ukrainian soldiers”, especially when they publish only aggregated number for both countries.

More information about how ICRC CTA (Central Tracing Agency) operates can be also found on their website.[^3]

[^1]: https://t.me/ICRCinUkraine/1209

[^2]: https://t.me/ICRCinUkraine/1233

[^3]: https://www.icrc.org/en/document/central-tracing-agency-missing-persons-ukraine

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ICRC clarification in Ukrainian

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