Ukraine returns another group of defenders from captivity. Most have been in held since 2022
Ukraine and Russia conducted another round of prisoner exchanges under agreements reached in Istanbul, bringing home fighters under 25 years old and defenders with injuries or health issues, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy reported on X.
The Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War reported that the released include personnel from the Ukrainian Armed Forces, including the Navy, Army, Air Assault Forces, Territorial Defense Forces, as well as members of the National Guard and State Border Guard Service. Ukrainian authorities did not disclose the number of freed defenders.
Most of those released were held in captivity for over three years, with many captured during the defense of Mariupol.
This stage of the exchange focused on repatriating young fighters, with the youngest being 24 years old, captured at 21 during Mariupol’s defense in April 2022. The oldest freed defender is 62.
Among those released were National Guard members who guarded the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant.
Ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets noted that some defenders were previously unconfirmed by Russia and listed as missing.
The group includes officers and fighters who defended Ukraine in the Donetsk, Kharkiv, Luhansk, Kherson, Kyiv, and Sumy oblasts.
More about exchanges
Following the second round of negotiations in Istanbul on June 2, Ukraine and Russia agreed to exchange all seriously wounded and seriously ill prisoners of war, as well as all soldiers aged 18 to 25.
The parties agreed to focus not on numbers, but on specific categories of prisoners of war for an exchange in an "all-for-all" format.
On June 9, a group of captured defenders under the age of 25 was returned to Ukraine. The next day, the countries exchanged the first group of seriously wounded and sick. During the penultimate exchange, on June 20, Ukraine again released fighters from the category of "seriously wounded and seriously ill."
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