Her Husband Went Missing Fighting Russia. She Is Still Trying to Have His Baby.
LVIV, Ukraine—On brief leave from fighting against Russia's invasion of Ukraine, soldier Petro Kotovych's wife, Maria, rushed him to a fertility clinic here.
The couple had struggled to have a baby and undergone five rounds of IVF before the war. Now, with Petro drafted into the Ukrainian army and Moscow's forces posing an existential threat to the country, their personal battle to conceive seemed more urgent.
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It is the job of Padei and other forensic experts to piece together how soldiers like Hryhoriev died. These reports are often the only reliable information the soldiers' families get — and they will be used by Ukraine, along with testimony from former POWs, to bring war crimes charges against Russia at the International Criminal Court. The body of a former POW recently examined by Padei had an almond-sized fracture on the right side of its skull. That suggested the soldier was struck by a blunt object – a blow potentially strong enough to have killed him instantly, or shortly after, she said. 'These injuries may not always be the direct cause of death,' Padei said, 'but they clearly indicate the use of force and torture against the servicemen.' Fingerprints taken from the body of a Ukrainian prisoner of war returned by Russia, at a morgue in Kyiv, Ukraine, June 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Alex Babenko) Earlier this year, Amnesty International documented widespread torture of Ukrainian POWs in Russia. Its report was especially critical of Russia's secrecy regarding the whereabouts and condition of POWs, saying it refused to grant rights groups or health workers access to its prisons, leaving families in the dark for months or years about their loved ones. Of the more than 5,000 Ukrainian POWs who were returned in prisoner exchanges with Russia, including more than 50 when an explosion ripped through a Russian-controlled prison barracks, according to the Ukrainian government. An additional 245 Ukrainian POWs were killed by Russian soldiers on the battlefield, according to Ukrainian prosecutors. Associated Press reporters spoke to more than 50 Ukrainian families who received their relatives back in body bags from Russian captivity. The toll of dead POWs is expected to rise as more bodies are returned and identified, but forensic experts face significant challenges in determining causes of death. In some cases, internal organs are missing. Other times, it appears as if bruises or injuries have been hidden or removed. Ukrainian officials believe the mutilation of bodies is an effort by Russia to conceal the true causes of death. Extreme decomposition is another obstacle, officials say. 'They hold the bodies until they reach a state where nothing can be determined,' said Petro Yatsenko, a spokesperson for the Ukrainian government agency in charge of POW affairs. A forensic worker in Kyiv, Ukraine, examines the body of a prisoner of war repatriated by Russia, June 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Alex Babenko) Workers change clothes at a morgue in Kyiv, Ukraine, June 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Alex Babenko) Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said the prompt exchange of POWs must be part of any ceasefire agreement, along with the return of thousands of Ukrainian civilians, including children forcibly deported to Russia. A major prisoner exchange between Russia and Ukraine took place over the weekend. The Associated Press interviewed relatives of 21 Ukrainian POWs who died in captivity. Autopsies performed in Ukraine found that five of these POWs died of heart failure, including soldiers who were 22, 39 and 43. Four others died from tuberculosis or pneumonia, and three others perished, respectively, from an infection, asphyxia and a blunt force head wound. Padei said cases like these — and others she has seen — are red flags, suggesting that physical abuse and untreated injuries and illness likely contributed to many soldiers' deaths. 'Under normal or humane conditions, these would not have been fatal,' Padei said. In one autopsy report, coroners said an individual had been electrocuted and beaten just days before dying of heart failure and extreme emaciation. Other autopsies noted that bodies showed signs of gangrene or untreated infections. 'Everything the returned prisoners describe … we see the same on the bodies,' Padei said. 'Angel in the sky' Months into Hryhoriev's detention at the Kamensk-Shakhtinsky prison – and after his daughter saw him in the Russian army's social media video -- his health deteriorated significantly, according to Honcharov. But instead of being sent to a hospital, Hryhoriev was moved to a tiny cell that was isolated from other prisoners. Another Ukrainian captive, a paramedic, was assigned to stay with him. 'It was damp, cold, with no lighting at all,' recalled Honcharov. He died in that cell about a month later, Honcharov said. It was May 20, 2023, according to his Russian death certificate. The Russian and Ukrainian autopsy reports of Serhii Hryhoriev The Hryhoriev family didn't learn he had died until more than six months later, when a former POW reached out. Then, in March 2024, police in central Ukraine called: A body had arrived with a Russian death certificate bearing Hryhoriev's name. A DNA test confirmed it was him. An autopsy performed in Ukraine disputed Russia's claim that Hryhoriev died of a stroke. It said he bled to death after blunt trauma to his abdomen that also damaged his spleen. Hryhoriev's body was handed over to the family last June, and soon after he was buried in his hometown of Pyriatyn. Halyna Hryhorieva, the wife of Serhii Hryhoriev, a prisoner of war who died in Russia, sits at home in Pyriatyn, Ukraine, March 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Alex Babenko)
