Two Russians Exchanged in June Were Captured Again by the Ukrainian Defense Forces

In July, Ukrainian Defense Forces recaptured two Russian servicemen who were exchanged as wounded in the June exchange.

I Want to Live project reported on this.

This is not the first time that Russia has sent prisoners of war who have returned to the front as part of exchanges.

Unlike in Ukraine, where being a prisoner of war is grounds for voluntary discharge, Russian soldiers do not have this right.

One of the repeat prisoners is Saktaagai Shagaa Mikhailovich, a native of Tuva with limited knowledge of Russian.

He signed a contract with the Russian Ministry of Defense on December 10, 2024, and was sent to the 83rd Motorized Rifle Regiment without any training. Already in January 2025, during the so-called “meat” assault on Vovchansk, Shagaa was wounded and surrendered.

On June 20, 2025, according to the Istanbul agreements, he was handed over to Russia as a wounded prisoner of war. However, he received neither treatment nor rehabilitation, nor was he returned home.

For two weeks, he was held and interrogated by FSS officers in the barracks of the 27th Separate Mechanized Brigade in the village of Mosrentgen, Moscow Region. After that, he was sent back to the front, near the same Vovchansk where he was captured for the first time.

Knowing that his life was not in danger in Ukrainian captivity, Shagaa voluntarily surrendered for the second time on July 19, 2025. Less than a month passed from the time of the exchange to his recapture.

The path of 21-year-old Dmitry Viktorovich Ivanov, a native of the Komi Republic, was similar. On September 11, 2024, he signed a contract with the 82nd Motorized Rifle Regiment (unit 52033), after which he was sent to storm Vovchansk without training.

On October 7, 2024, he was wounded in the arms and legs and taken prisoner for the first time. After being exchanged on June 9, 2025, Ivanov was thrown back to the front, and on July 19, again near Vovchansk, he was taken prisoner by Ukraine for the second time.

Recently, Ukraine and Russia have agreed on a new exchange of 1,200 prisoners of war, and work is underway to harmonize the lists.