Nazar Daletskyi's family buried what they thought were his remains in 2023 after a DNA test indicated a 99 percent match with his mother's DNA. The Ukrainian soldier had been captured by Russian forces in May 2022 while defending a position in eastern Ukraine. For three years, his mother Nataliia Daletska mourned at his grave in Velykyi Doroshiv village, believing her son was dead.

In February 2026, Daletskyi was freed in a prisoner-of-war exchange and learned of the burial error from Ukrainian security officials. The mistake occurred when remains recovered on Ukrainian soil were incorrectly matched to him, despite his captivity in Russia. His family had received $340,000 in bereavement compensation, which the government says they won't have to return.

The case exposes Ukraine's overwhelmed system for identifying war dead, with morgues beyond capacity and DNA results delayed. More than 90,000 soldiers are registered as missing, and researchers estimate over 100,000 Ukrainian soldiers have died in the conflict. Moscow provides no precise lists of captives, making identification errors more likely.