Russia is struggling to find its missing soldiers

KAMONIN ALEKSANDROVICH disappeared in the Donetsk region in winter. On February 22nd last year, as Ukraine repelled Russian assaults along the front line across eastern Ukraine, his unit was involved in fierce fighting. According to his family, Kamonin was badly injured. “He went out with his unit on the mission, he had no documents with him,” they wrote on an online message board. Their son did not return from the battle; and like dozens more he simply disappeared.

“He was wounded and left behind. His colleagues don’t want to say anything, and command hides the truth,” his family say. Mr Aleksandrovich’s case is the tip of an iceberg. On People Search, a group set up on Vkontakte, a Russian social-media platform, new faces of the missing appear daily with pleas for help.