Azovstal steel plant defender calls his beloved ones after prisoners of war swap between Ukraine and Russia on May 6 (Andriy Yermak/Telegram)
President Volodymyr Zelensky’s Chief of Staff Andriy Yermak reported on May 6 that 45 Ukrainian prisoners of war had returned home from Russian captivity as part of a prisoner exchange.
Yermak said all of the POWs, including 10 officers, had defended the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol in Donetsk Oblast when it was besieged by Russian troops in 2022.
One of the returned POWs had spent 2.5 years in Russian captivity before the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. When swapped, he returned to Ukraine, defended the Azovstal plant and was captured again.
Among the released Ukrainians are 42 men and three women, Yermak said.
On April 16, Ukraine also returnedhome another 130 POWs.
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Ukrainian and European officials rejected Russian President Vladimir Putin's proposal for a ceasefire in exchange for Kyiv to cede its eastern territories to Russia, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported on Aug. 9.
The Russian strike took place at approximately 8:00 a.m. local time, resulting in the hospitalization of 16 people, two of whom suffered serious injuries.
Russian forces launched 47 Shahed-type drones and decoys, as well as two Iskander-K missiles against Ukraine overnight, according to Ukraine's Air Force.
Ukrainian, U.S., and European senior officials are set to meet in the U.K. ahead of U.S. President Donald Trump's planned summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin next week, Axios reported on Aug. 8, citing three sources with knowledge of the plans.
The news comes as the U.S. president is set to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin for a high-level summit on Aug. 15 in Alaska to discuss ways toward ending the war in Ukraine.
"For more than 35 years, Armenia and Azerbaijan have fought a bitter conflict that resulted in tremendous suffering for both nations… Many tried to find a resolution… and they were unsuccessful. With this accord, we’ve finally succeeded in making peace," U.S. President Donald Trump said.
