20 Azov fighters return from Russian captivity, including 19 who defended Mariupol
20 fighters from the 1st Corps of the National Guard of Ukraine "Azov" were freed from Russian captivity on May 15 as part of a prisoner exchange, including 19 defenders of Mariupol, corps commander Denys Prokopenko reported.
"Four years in Russian captivity, and now finally a reunion with loved ones who fought for their return and waited for this day," Prokopenko wrote. "I welcome my brothers-in-arms home, in Ukraine. Thank you for the resilience, courage and strength you showed every day under the round-the-clock pressure of an inhuman Russian system that failed to break you."
According to the Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War, nearly all of the soldiers freed on May 15 had spent four years in captivity. They include military personnel from the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the National Guard and the State Border Guard Service who defended Mariupol, the Azovstal steel plant, and positions along the Donetsk, Luhansk, Kharkiv, Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, Sumy and Kyiv fronts, as well as at the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant.
In addition to enlisted soldiers and sergeants, more than 50 officers were brought home. The youngest freed defender was just 21 years old; the oldest was 62.
The return of 205 Ukrainians represents only the first phase of the new 1,000-for-1,000 prisoner exchange.
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