The death toll in Groza shelling has risen to 53 people

Five people are considered missing. This was announced today during a briefing by the deputy head of the Main Department of the National Police in Kharkiv region, Serhiy Bolvinov.

Since the 5th of October investigators and criminalists have been working round the clock to establish the identities of the dead. During this time 288 DNA-researches were carried out.

Sergei Bolvinov stressed that such a volume of work in such a short period of time would not have been possible without the DNA-lab provided by the Howard Buffett Foundation.

This work has not been finalised yet, the expert examinations continue. Everything is being done to speed up the process of transferring the bodies of the dead for burial. Today investigators who work with relatives, close friends and acquaintances of the dead have handed over 15 bodies.

We have been continuously collecting the remains of civilians killed by a Russian missile in the village of Groza for five days now. We had to collect the mutilated bodies piece by piece, we have examined 135 remains, we are still doing it, - Sergei Bolvinov told reporters.

In total, the police received 22 reports of missing persons in Groza village. The police thoroughly investigated each report. Of these, 4 reports were not confirmed - people were found, 13 people were identified among the recovered bodies. In total, 5 people are considered missing today.

Sergei Bolvinov told about each of the dead and once again confirmed that there are no military men, especially military officials among those killed by the Russian Iskander strike. They were women and men, businessmen, pensioners. There were only civilians who came to honour their fellow villager.

Work on the identification of the bodies continues. According to Sergei Bolvinov, the total number of dead may increase.