Over 200 Ukrainian soldiers and civilians have just returned from Russian captivity, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said.
Among them are "soldiers, sergeants, officers. Servicemen of the Armed Forces, the National Guard, the Navy, border guards. Some of them defended Mariupol and Azovstal", he said.
According to the Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War, Ukraine, with the support of the UAE, returned 230 of its people. This is the largest exchange in terms of the number of returned defenders.
"Among them are 130 representatives of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (including 14 from the Army and 14 from the Navy), 55 from the National Guard, 38 from the State Border Service, one from the National Police, and six civilians who were illegally deprived of their liberty," the headquarters said.
Among those returned are those who had official prisoner of war status confirmed through the International Committee of the Red Cross (182 people) and those Ukrainian servicemen who were considered missing and had the status of "person being searched" (48).
The majority of the released persons are men (225), five are women. There are 213 privates and non-commissioned officers, and 11 officers.
"After exhausting months of captivity, a combat medic from the 36th Separate Mechanised Brigade returned home. While in captivity, she spoke Ukrainian as a matter of principle. The Russians imitated her transfer for exchange several times, but eventually returned her back to the place of detention," the Coordination HQ stressed.
Also, seven defenders of Zmiyinyy Island, a musician of a military orchestra, a servicewoman of the Armed Forces of Ukraine who was imprisoned by Russians while on maternity leave, National Guardsmen who were captured while performing their duties at the Chornobyl nuclear power plant, a civilian lecturer at the Volodymyr Dal East Ukrainian National University, defenders of Mariupol will finally see their families and friends.
The released prisoners of war were met by the head of the Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War, the head of the military intelligence, Kyrylo Budanov, a member of the Coordination Headquarters, the Verkhovna Rada Commissioner for Human Rights, Dmytro Lubinets, and the secretary of the headquarters, Dmytro Usov.
The Ukrainian Ombudsman's Office earlier said that Russia was reluctant to bring back its citizens, so it suspended the exchanges. Currently, according to the Ukrainian Reintegration Ministry, Russia is holding 4,337 Ukrainians in captivity, most of whom are military personnel. Due to the large number of captured Russians, Ukraine has begun to build another camp for them.