Japan gives Ukraine devices to identify human remains, detect explosives
Japan has donated advanced scientific equipment to Ukraine to help identify human remains and collect evidence for war crimes.
Ukrainian officials need to identify many people killed after the Russian invasion. They also need to gather evidence in their investigation of suspected war crimes by Russians.
The Japanese government has provided Ukraine's Ministry of Internal Affairs with seven sets of scientific equipment, including one capable of analyzing a number of DNA samples.
They also include a gas chromatograph which is used for conducting forensic examination of substances such as explosive and gunshot residues.
The provision was carried out through the United Nations Development Programme.
At a ceremony near the capital Kyiv on Monday, Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs Leonid Tymchenko said that in Ukraine, thousands of bodies are unidentified and a large number of people are missing. He stressed that Japan's support is very important and necessary.
The ministry plans to send the donated equipment to areas near the frontline to strengthen its investigative capability.
Japan's Ambassador to Ukraine Nakagome Masashi said that he wants Ukrainian officials to utilize Japan's sophisticated expertise and advanced skills in this field. The ambassador said he hopes the equipment will help collect information on missing people.
A Ukrainian official in charge of forensic investigation said no DNA research can be carried out without a genetic analyzer, either on an unidentified body or on the relatives of missing persons.
The official also said that such equipment will double the country's capabilities and allow it to conduct forensic molecular genetic examinations at least twice as fast and efficiently.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Japan Today
an hour ago
- Japan Today
Russia hits Ukraine's Kharkiv with deadly nighttime barrage of drones
Women react next to their apartment building damaged by a Russian drone strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kharkiv, Ukraine June 11, 2025. REUTERS/Vyacheslav Madiyevskyy A concentrated, nine-minute-long Russian drone attack on Ukraine's second largest city of Kharkiv in the middle of the night killed six people and injured 64, including nine children, Ukrainian officials said on Wednesday. The overnight attack followed Russia's two biggest air assaults of the war on Ukraine this week, part of intensified bombardments that Moscow says are retaliatory measures for Kyiv's recent attacks in Russia. Elsewhere, two southern Ukrainian regions, Mykolaiv and Kherson, were left without electricity on Wednesday after Russian forces attacked an energy facility, the governors said. Kharkiv, in Ukraine's northeast, withstood Russia's full-scale advance in the early days of the war but has since been a regular target of drone, missile and guided aerial bomb assaults. Prosecutors in Kharkiv region said on the Telegram messaging app that the death toll had risen to six as rescue teams pulled bodies from under the rubble. They said three people were still believed to be trapped. The intense strikes by 17 drones on Kharkiv sparked fires in 15 units of a five-story apartment building and caused other damage in the city close to the Russian border, the city's mayor Ihor Terekhov said. "There are direct hits on multi-story buildings, private homes, playgrounds, enterprises and public transport," Terekhov said on the Telegram messaging app. "Every new day now brings new despicable blows from Russia, and almost every blow is telling. Russia deserves increased pressure; with literally every blow it strikes against ordinary life, it proves that the pressure is not enough," President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Telegram. A Reuters witness saw emergency rescuers helping to carry people out of damaged buildings and administering care, while firefighters battled blazes in the dark. Nine of the injured, including a 2-year-old girl and a 15-year-old boy, have been hospitalised, Oleh Sinehubov, the governor of the broader Kharkiv region, said on Telegram. In total, the Ukrainian military said Russia had launched 85 drones overnight, 40 of which were shot down. In the southern Kherson region, workers were trying to restore electricity supplies after Russian forces attacked what its governor, Oleksandr Prokudin, said was "an important energy facility". "It is currently impossible to predict the duration of the work. Residents of the region, I ask you to show understanding and prepare for a prolonged power outage," he said on the Telegram messenger. The governor of the neighbouring Mykolaiv region, Vitaliy Kim, said his region was also experiencing emergency shutdowns but that power would soon be restored. Kherson region directly borders a war zone and is under daily drone, missile and artillery attack. The Mykolaiv region faces mainly missile and drone attacks. There was no immediate comment from Russia on the latest overnight attacks. Both sides deny targeting civilians in the war that Russia launched on its smaller neighbor in February 2022. But thousands of civilians have died in the conflict, the vast majority of them Ukrainian. © Thomson Reuters 2025.
Japan Today
an hour ago
- Japan Today
Princess Kako addresses Brazil's Congress, meets with Lula in presidential palace
By MAURICIO SAVARESE Japan's Princess Kako of Akishino, a niece of Emperor Naruhito, was welcomed on Wednesday by Brazil's President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva for a private ceremony on the latest leg of her 11-day tour of the South American nation. The younger daughter of Crown Prince Fumihito and Crown Princess Kiko also addressed Congress and thanked Brazilians for hosting Japanese immigrants for more than a century. Her trip, which started on June 5, marks the 130th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two countries. 'The efforts of the Japanese who came, and the Brazilians who went to Japan, are deepening our bilateral relationship of friendship," Kako told Brazilian lawmakers. 'I hope that the relationship between the two countries is a long lasting one.' Congress speaker Hugo Motta told the princess he hopes Brazil's ethanol 'can help Japan reduce its dependency on fossil fuels.' Brazil has the largest population of people of Japanese descent in the world, estimated at about 2.7 million. About half of those live in Sao Paulo state, official figures show, where the princess last week received the state's highest honor from Gov. Tarcisio de Freitas. Emperor Naruhito has no male children, which makes his brother Akishino, Princess Kako's father, the first successor in line. Japan's tradition does not allow women to take the throne. Princess Kako will arrive in Rio de Janeiro on Friday, where she will visit the Christ the Redeemer statue and a museum of Japanese immigration. The last part of her trip will take place in the city of Foz do Iguacu, where the world famous Iguacu falls are located. © 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
Nikkei Asia
4 hours ago
- Nikkei Asia
Chinese fighter flies within 45m of Japan patrol plane over Pacific, Tokyo says
TOKYO -- Chinese fighter jets flew abnormally close to a Japanese patrol plane monitoring a Chinese aircraft carrier in the Pacific Ocean twice within the past few days, Japan's Defense Ministry said Wednesday. A Maritime Self-Defense Force P-3C plane was followed by a Chinese J-15 from the aircraft carrier Shandong for around 40 minutes on Saturday and 80 minutes on Sunday, according to the ministry. The jet, believed to have been armed with missiles, flew within 45 meters of the patrol plane at the same altitude, a short enough distance to risk a collision.
