Despite all the difficulties, we managed to return ten more of our people from Russian captivity. This was announced by President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Among those who returned to Ukraine:
- Nariman Dzhelal, Deputy Chairman of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people, who was captured in Crimea in 2021.
- Olena Pekh and Valeriy Matyushenko are civilians who have been in captivity since 2017-2018.
- Bohdan Geleta and Ivan Levytskyy are priests of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, captured in Berdyansk for resisting the Russian military.
Metropolitan Borys Gudzyak of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, head of the Philadelphia Archeparchy in the United States, published photos of priests Bohdan Geleta and Ivan Levytskyy before and after their Russian captivity.
According to LB.ua's sources, two priests of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, Bohdan Geleta and Ivan Levytskyy, were returned in exchange for Metropolitan Ionafan Yeletskykh, who was taken to the border with Belarus on 25 June and handed over to Russian representatives.
We also managed to return five civilians who had been captured in Belarus and deprived of their liberty: Mykola Shvets, Nataliya Zakharenko, Pavel Kupriyenko, Lyudmyla Honcharenko and Kateryna Bryukhanova. All of them have been released and are now back home in Ukraine.
"I am grateful to everyone who helped! I am grateful to our team that is engaged in the release of the prisoners. I would also like to note the efforts of the Vatican to bring these people home," Zelenskyy said.
- On 25 June, another 90 Ukrainians returned home from Russian captivity.
- At the end of May, 75 people were returned from Russian captivity. These are soldiers of the Armed Forces and the National Guard, border guards and civilians.