Ukraine, Russia hold prisoner exchange on Independence Day
Ukraine has brought home another group of soldiers and civilians from Russian captivity on Aug. 24, the country’s Independence Day, President Volodymyr Zelensky announced.
The swap follows the series of other exchanges carried out in recent weeks in accordance with an agreement reached between Kyiv and Moscow at the second round of peace talks in Istanbul on June 2.
"Today, our people are returning home — soldiers of the Armed Forces, the National Guard, the State Border Guard Service, and civilians. Most of them have been in captivity since 2022," Zelensky wrote on Telegram.
Although this time Ukraine has not yet announced the number of people released, the Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War (POWs) said among them were eight civilians, including Ukrainian journalists Dmytro Khyliuk and Mark Kaliush and former mayor of Kherson, Volodymyr Mykolaienko.
Khyliuk, a journalist with the UNIAN news agency, was kidnapped alongside his father from their home in Kyiv Oblast in March 2022, while the area was under Russian occupation.
Earlier in the day, the Russian Defense Ministry claimed Ukraine brought back 146 of their POWs, and they released the same number of Ukrainian POWs.
According to the Coordination Headquarters, among the released Ukrainian soldiers are representatives from almost all defense forces, including the Airborne Assault, Air Force, Navy, as well as Territorial Defense, National Guard, and the State Border Guard Services.
According to the report, they took part in the defense of Mariupol, Luhansk, Donetsk, Kharkiv, Zaporizhzhia, Kherson, Mykolaiv, Kyiv, and Sumy oblasts. Some of them were captured in Russian-occupied territories and Crimea.
Among the released civilians is medic Serhiy Kovalov from the Hospitallers Medical Battalion, "who saved the lives of both defenders and civilians during the siege at the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol," in the spring of 2022, Coordination Headquarters reported.
"Exchanges are ongoing. And this is made possible, perhaps, thanks to our soldiers, who replenish Ukraine’s exchange pool; our team, working every day; and our partners, who provide assistance," Zelensky says.
The previous POWs exchange, which secured the return of 84 Ukrainians, took place on Aug. 14, just a day before U.S. President Donald Trump met Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska on Aug. 15. Trump then met President Volodymyr Zelensky alongside European leaders in the White House days later.
The Ukraine-Russia peace talks earlier this year have failed to achieve a breakthrough in ending the hostilities, but concluded with new agreements on prisoner swaps.
Zelensky announced earlier this month that Ukraine and Russia are preparing to exchange 1,200 POWs in accordance with the third round of peace talks in Istanbul on July 23.
The president also said late in July that Kyiv has secured the release of over 6,400 Ukrainians from Russian captivity since 2022, of whom 5,857 were freed during prisoner exchanges.
