Ukraine has returned 2,526 people from Russian captivity since full-scale war’s beginning – Zelensky

Since the large-scale Russian invasion began, Ukraine has returned 2,526 Ukrainians from captivity.

The President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, reported this on Telegram, showing footage of the latest exchange of Ukrainian military personnel.

"Every time we return our people from Russian captivity, we remember the fundamental goal: we will not leave anyone of our own, nothing to the enemy of Ukraine. Yesterday, we returned another 95 of our guys, our soldiers, from captivity. Since February 24 of last year, we have already returned 2,526 Ukrainian men and women," the President wrote.

He thanked the entire exchange team and every soldier who ensured that Ukraine had an exchange fund for the release of our people.

"We remember everyone; we are looking for everyone; we must return everyone. And we will!" – assured Zelensky.

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It should be noted that on June 11, Ukraine returned another 95 of its defenders as part of the POW exchange.

As the Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War clarified on Telegram, this time, it was possible to free the following people from captivity:

• Four military sailors,
• 11 border guards,
• 29 National Guardsmen,
• Fifty-one representatives of the Armed Forces, including 15 soldiers of the Territorial Defense Forces.

All of the returned soldiers are men.

It is noted that the exchange became possible thanks to the complex negotiations conducted by the Coordinating Staff. In particular, it was possible to return defenders held captive by the Wagner Group and the Chechen special unit "Akhmat."

Of the military that Ukraine returned the time, 27 were defending the Donetsk direction. Defenders of the Kharkiv, Zaporizhzhia, Kherson, Luhansk, and Sumy directions are also among the liberated.