Today marked another stage of the large-scale prisoner exchange according to the agreements reached in Istanbul. By order of the President of Ukraine, the Coordination Headquarters for Prisoner of War Affairs returned a group of Defenders from the category of “severely wounded and critically ill” from Russian captivity.
Ukrainian Armed Forces servicemen returned to their homeland, including members of the Air Assault Forces, Navy, Air Force, Territorial Defense Forces, Special Operations Forces, as well as the State Border Guard Service and the National Guard of Ukraine.
Among those freed today are Defenders of Mariupol who had been in captivity for over three years. All of the released Defenders are men, mostly privates and sergeants.
Some of the Ukrainian soldiers released today had previously been considered missing in action.
Overall, the Ukrainians returning home fought on the Donetsk, Kherson, Kharkiv, Zaporizhzhia, and Luhansk fronts.
The Defenders freed from captivity will undergo necessary medical examinations, receive physical and psychological rehabilitation assistance, and be granted all due payments for the entire period of their captivity.
Today’s exchange is part of a larger exchange involving servicemen under 25 years of age, as well as severely wounded and critically ill prisoners.
The Coordination Headquarters continues its work, and the next stage of releasing Ukrainian Defenders will take place soon.
