Counting the human cost of Ukraine-Russia war

Vatsenko-Bondareva visiting the grave of her husband Denys at a cemetery in Poltava. — Reuters

IN peacetime, Viktor Tkachenko tracks local tenders, court registries and other open sources for a news outlet in central Ukraine.

These days, the reserved 33-year-old fills a spreadsheet with the names of Ukrainian soldiers from Poltava region killed since Russia’s full-scale invasion began – 1,072 at last count – which is used in regular round-ups that typically contain between 10 and 40 names.