On Ukraine’s Independence Day, another prisoner exchange took place on the President’s order, the Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War reported.
According to agreements reached in Istanbul, Ukrainian servicemen returned home, and as part of the 68th exchange, eight civilians were also freed. Among the released defenders are representatives of nearly all branches of the defense forces – airborne assault, air force, navy, territorial defense, National Guard, and border guards. All of them are from the ranks of privates and sergeants, with most having spent over three years in captivity.
The freed servicemen defended Mariupol, as well as positions in Luhansk, Donetsk, Kharkiv, Zaporizhzhia, Kherson, Mykolaiv, Kyiv and Sumy regions, and guarded the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant. Some were captured in Crimea and other temporarily occupied territories.
Among the civilians who returned are journalists Dmytro Khilyuk and Mark Kaliush, illegally detained in 2022 and 2023, medic Serhiy Kovalov of the “Hospitallers” battalion who saved lives during the siege of Azovstal, and former Kherson mayor Volodymyr Mykolayenko, who refused to collaborate with Russian forces.
Ukraine expressed gratitude to the United Arab Emirates for their assistance in organizing the return of civilians. The released Ukrainians will receive full medical care, state payments, rehabilitation, and reintegration support after years in captivity.
The Coordination Headquarters stressed that efforts continue to locate, document, and bring home every Ukrainian still held by Russia.