File:Slavyansk graveyard unknown 590.jpg

Unknown soldier buried in Slavyansk with date August 5, 2014. 590 is the number given to the body at the morgue. Sergei Garbuzenko, who fought on the Novorossiyan side, had number 589 and the same date. One grave shows the text: Unknown man - 2014 - 709. See below for more.


 * Description
 * ''Olga Garbuzenko mother 19-year-old pro-Russian militants, reported the death of his son, when in Slavyansk, Donetsk region were fierce battles. The fact that his son had left the occupied Slavyansk, the family learned it from the message of his death. Olga recalls that after the outbreak of the armed conflict on the Ukrainian Donbas her son said that he was going to Moscow to work - to work on a construction site. Next - the notification of death. About three years the mother of the deceased separatist could not find where her son was buried. On this occasion, the head of the humanitarian mission "Black Tulip" Yaroslav Zhilkin said: "The victim - have died. He is no longer the enemy, no matter on what side he fought. Our goal - to help mothers and wives to return the remains to help identify bodies in order that they could safely bury loved ones and deal with their grief. " Since September 2016 the mission "Black Tulip" does not have access to the uncontrolled territory of Ukraine to carry out search operations with regards to the bodies.


 * Source
 * Мать погибшего юноши уже после его смерти узнала, что он воевал против Украины (The mother of the deceased young man after his death, she learned that he had fought against Ukraine) - Radio Svoboda Ukraine, April 28, 2017
 * She says on video that they called her on 26 June (2014) and notified that her son was killed in Semenovka. Grave sign,  Unknown, 5 Aug. 2014 . Remember, Love, Grieve.
 * Black Tulip operates since USSR involvement in Afghanistan, now operates in Russia and independently in Ukraine (Ukrainian one was involved here). Their rep tells on video that it took longer as due to a 'human factor' 'bodies were mixed up (misplaced) in those burials' and that 'a deceased is a deceased, no longer an opponent, no matter whose side he was fighting on'; + later on video: from September of last year, UAF stopped using their services and had some on their own. Search on rebel-held territory, as far as he knows, is not conducted, 'only evacuation work'; on their territory, also not done properly, 'organisation which will do it is systematically is not defined'.
 * Other sources
 * Volunteers humanitarian mission "Black Tulip" helped his mother find a dead son - Союз Народная память, May 3, 2017
 * ''The other day, in the city of Slavyansk, Donetsk region was held exhumation of the remains of the deceased in the ATO zone resident of Donetsk S. Garbuzenko. The body of the participant of the conflict passed to his mother.
 * ''To the volunteers of humanitarian missions "Black Tulip", with a request to find her missing son, Sergei, his mother - Olga Garbuzenko asked back in 2016.
 * ''Humanitarian Mission "Black Tulip" in search and removal of dead bodies in the area ATO works continuously to September 2, 2014. During this time, it was examined over 105 settlements and locations, found and removed 809 dead bodies.
 * ''The mission is realized with the support of the Swiss Embassy in Ukraine and the International Red Cross Committee.
 * (mirror 1, mirror 2, mirror 3)
 * Mother thriller "DNR": thanks to the volunteers, I found the remains of her son. VIDEO - sprotyv.info, April 29, 2017

Location
The place is called Смольное кладбище (Smolny Cemetery) southeast of Slavyanks, just outside the city limits. The graves are in the eastern extension. The the location is 2 km south of the road crossing on E-50 with the now famous stainless steel "Slavyansk" sign. Google Earth shows about 20 military graves from the summer of 2014 in two rows on the northern edge of the graveyard. Four graves are seen open in the first image from April 28, with some possibly already covered. These gravesw are seen on the video. Graves 589 and 590 are in row three from the north. This row also contains normal gravestones. -- Petri Krohn (talk) 04:09, 6 May 2017 (UTC)

Discussion
The siege of Slavyansk ended on July 5, 2014 when Novorossiyan troops withdrew from the city. It is possible that bodies 589 and 590 were brought to the morgue on July 5th and buried exactly one month later. Sources say Sergei Garbuzenko died already on 26 June 2014. What happened?

Where is the graveyard. The Radio Svoboda source says it is Slavyansk. There should be another Ukrainian morgue and grave near the Ukrainian military base at the Kramatorsk airfield.

Whose numbering is this? Ukrainian or Novorossian? The same numbering seems to continue after the end of the siege of Slavyansk, up to 709. Who are the 588 who died before these two? Is this the Slavyanks morgue? Did it handle both and Ukrainian KIA?

The Wikipedia article on the Siege of Slavyansk says Ukraine lost 51 killed and NAF 34–54 killed. Novorossiyan sources at the time claimed Ukrainian losses to be about 1000 KIA.

My impression is that NAF fighters 589 and 590 ended up in an Ukrainian morgue and received Ukrainian running numbers. I may be wrong. -- Petri Krohn (talk) 02:52, 6 May 2017 (UTC)

In Russian wiki, 14 May 2014 article with Strelkov quoted to say that around 300 Ukrainian soldiers were killed. On Novorossia side, there would be civilian casualties as city was shelled, not stormed, Siege was for almost 3 months (12 Apr-5 July, 85 days); several killed per day will end up in a few hundreds. In this graveyard, I'd think everybody (civilians, Novorossian and Ukrainian soldiers), including those left in morgue after withdrawal and some Ukrainians killed before and after, too. Probably won't arrange for a special graveyard in Slavyansk for Ukrainian soldiers killed only. Some (especially among recovered and ID'ed regular forces, not volunteers) will be buried in Ukraine--Resup (talk) 04:08, 6 May 2017 (UTC)