Crimean Tatar Marine Kudusov sentenced to 29 years in Russia now back home in Ukraine

Kudusov, a marine captured near Mariupol in 2022, was among those freed in the latest swap after a long pause. The Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War highlighted that a key feature of Thursday’s exchange was the return of several illegally convicted Ukrainians.

Kudusov’s wife, Elvira, met him via video link upon his release. “Do you remember when you told me, ‘Elichka, I’ll come to you through forests and fields’? Thank you! I waited. I’m waiting for you, my miracle,” she said.

Elvira had not seen her husband for four years and 16 days. Their children — now a 14-year-old son and 12-year-old daughter — learned of their father’s release while at school in Mykolaiv.

“Dania started crying and asked, ‘When will we pick up Dad?’ I told him there’s still rehabilitation first, and we’ll go to him together. Diliana doesn’t know yet,” Elvira told her husband.

She learned of the possible release the day before from the Coordination Headquarters and traveled from Mykolaiv to the designated location.

“They told me in advance it was likely. You can’t trust anyone — you know who we’re dealing with. They said to be there, but didn’t say why. I only realized later they were preparing a surprise,” she said.

According to the Office of the President’s Permanent Representative in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, Eskender Kudusov was born in Uzbekistan to a family of Crimean Tatars deported by the Soviet regime; his family later returned to Crimea.

Kudusov began his military service at 18 in Zaporizhzhia and participated in Ukraine’s peacekeeping missions in Iraq and Kosovo. Before Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea, he continued serving in the marine infantry in Feodosia.

In 2014, he was among the Ukrainian military who refused to betray their oath and defect to the occupiers, relocating with his unit to Mykolaiv.

During Russia’s full-scale invasion, Kudusov was in Mariupol. On April 12, 2022, Ukrainian forces attempted to break out of encirclement; many were captured. Kudusov and three others walked 26 kilometers on their own initiative hoping to escape, but were taken prisoner on April 16.

His wife’s last message from him was a March 27, 2022, SMS reading: “Everything is fine with Eskender.”

After capture, Russian authorities opened a criminal case against him. A so-called “DPR court” sentenced him in 2023 to 25 years; on Defender of Ukraine Day in 2024, the “sentence” was increased to 29 years and six months.

Kudusov was held in strict-regime Colony No. 8 in Khrestivka (formerly Kirovske), in Russian-occupied Donetsk Oblast. Until his release, his condition and detention conditions remained unknown.