In Ukraine, a family’s ordeal to identify and honor a veteran killed in Bucha ends after 16 months

By HANNA ARHIROVA
Associated Press

BUCHA, Ukraine (AP) — The family of a Ukrainian veteran who was tortured and killed during the Russian occupation of Bucha finally has been able to give him a proper burial. His gravestone carries his photograph and birthday, but the date Roman Shadlovskyi died is a broad estimate: March 2022. That’s the month Russian forces left hundreds of bodies in mass graves before abandoning the city near Kyiv. Shadlovskyi’s body was found about three months later along with the remains of six other people in a forest. It took another year to confirm his identity with DNA testing. His remains were exhumed from a number-marked plot just hours before his funeral and reburial on Tuesday.