POW swap: 75 Ukrainians released from Russian captivity

As a result of the prisoner-of-war exchange, 75 soldiers and civilians were returned to Ukraine from Russian captivity.

That’s according to President Volodymyr Zelensky, Ukrinform saw.

"Throughout all of this time, we have not stopped working for a single day to bring everyone home from Russian captivity," the president said.

According to Zelensky, these are soldiers with the Armed Forces, National Guard, as well as border guards and four civilians. All of them have already crossed into Ukraine.

"We remember about every person. We are making every effort to find each and every one of our people. I am grateful to the team responsible for the exchanges," Zelensky emphasized.

Among the 75 Ukrainians released from captivity, 19 were captured on Snake Island, 10 were defenders of Mariupol and Azovstal steelworks, the head of the President's Office, Andriy Yermak, reported via Telegram.

"We are returning home 75 of our people who were captured by the Russians. These are privates, sergeant,s and officers with the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the National Guard, the State Border Guard Service, and civilians. Nineteen people were captured from Snake Island, 10 defenders of Mariupol and Azovstal, Ukrainian military who were captured in different areas," the post says.

As Ukrinform reported earlier, the Institute for the Study of War think tank stated that the Kremlin uses the issue of the exchange of prisoners of war as another technique to undermine the decision-making process in Ukraine.

For example, Tatyana Moskalkova, Russia’s Commissioner for Human Rights appointed by the Kremlin, accused Ukraine of putting forward "far-fetched demands" that allegedly caused a pause in the POW swap process over the past few months, adding that Russia was allegedly doing everything possible to support dialogue with the Ukrainian government and International Committee of the Red Cross in the issue of prisoners of war.

Video: Ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets