Ukraine has exchanged over 5,850 captives held by Russia since 2022, Zelensky says
Ukraine has brought home 5,857 people from Russian captivity via exchanges since the outbreak of Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022, President Volodymyr Zelensky announced on July 28.
Another 555 people were freed separately from prisoner exchanges, Zelensky added, without providing additional details.
The president made the announcement following a meeting with a team focused on the repatriation of prisoners held by Russia, which coincided with the commemoration of the massacre of Ukrainian prisoners of war (POW) in a Russian military prison in Olenivka in 2022.
"It is important to continue exchanges and verify the situation for every single name. Each person matters," Zelensky said.
Over 50 Ukrainian POWs were killed in an explosion in Russian-occupied Olenivka in Donetsk Oblast between July 28 and 29, 2022. Kyiv has accused Russia of carrying out the attack and of deliberately placing members of the Azov Regiment in a building that was later destroyed.
Moscow has denied responsibility and blamed Kyiv for the explosion, a claim rejected by a U.N. investigation.
Zelensky also highlighted that over 1,000 POWs were freed based on agreements concluded with Russia during recent peace talks in Istanbul.
"We also hope to free the civilians who are still being held in Russia," he added.
Following the latest round of Istanbul peace talks on July 23, Kyiv and Moscow agreed on another exchange involving more than 1,200 people, National Security and Defense Council Secretary Rustem Umerov said.
Kyiv and Moscow carried out the latest prisoner exchange on July 23. Ukraine continues to advocate for a full-scale "all-for-all" exchange, a proposal that Russia has so far rejected.
According to an investigation by Ukraine's Prosecutor General's Office, over 11,000 Ukrainians were illegally detained by Russia in places of deprivation of liberty during the war.
"Detainees were systematically tortured: beaten, subjected to electric shocks, set service dogs on, strangled, hung, simulated executions, and subjected to sexual violence," the statement read, pointing to 176 stationary and 120 temporary detention points set up by Russia.
Ukrainian prosecutors have charged 534 people in connection with these crimes, of whom 117 were convicted.
