Ukraine frees 75 individuals from Russian captivity in exchange

On Friday, May 31, Ukraine released 75 individuals who had been held captive by Russia. Out of the group, 71 were soldiers.

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky reports this on Telegram.

"All this time, we did not stop working for a single day to bring home every Russian captive. And today we have an important result: another 75 of our people have returned to Ukraine," he said.

^{Photo: V_Zelenskiy_official}

According to the president, soldiers of Ukraine's armed forces and the National Guard, border guards, and four civilians have returned from Russian captivity.

"We remember everyone. We are making every effort to find each and every one. Thanks to the team working on exchanges," he said.

^{Photo: V_Zelenskiy_official}

For his part, Ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets said that the Office's employees are at the exchange site to monitor compliance with human rights in accordance with international humanitarian law and the Geneva Conventions.

"The Defenders, who heard the voices of their relatives today for a long time, were filled with emotions. The families reacted no less emotionally to the calls because some of them had not heard the voices of their relatives since the beginning of the Russian invasion of our land," he added.

At the same time, Lubinets thanked the Coordinating Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War and the Joint Center for Coordination of the Search and Release of Prisoners of War, Persons Deprived of Liberty Illegally Due to Aggression against Ukraine under the Security Service of Ukraine for their fruitful work.

As Rubryka previously reported, on May 31, the bodies of 212 fallen defenders were returned to Ukraine as a result of repatriation measures.

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It should be noted that since the beginning of the full-scale war, Ukraine and Russia have conducted a series of prisoner-of-war exchanges. Since August 2023, Moscow has frozen the exchange of prisoners with Ukraine.

However, on January 3, the largest exchange of prisoners since the beginning of the full-scale invasion took place between Ukraine and Russia. Ukraine managed to bring home 230 defenders.

On January 24, Ukraine and Russia were supposed to hold the 50th exchange of prisoners, but it was interrupted due to the downing of the Il-76 plane near Belgorod.

The Russians said that dozens of Ukrainian prisoners were allegedly on board the plane. But Ukraine did not confirm this.

According to Ukraine's intelligence, the disrupted exchange was supposed to be one of the largest during the war.

On February 8, another 100 defenders returned to Ukraine from Russian captivity; among those were border guards, national guardsmen, and soldiers of Ukraine's armed forces.