270 Ukrainians Released From Russian Captivity, Including Those Imprisoned Before 2022

Ukraine has repatriated 261 military personnel and 9 civilians from Russian captivity.

This was reported by the Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War.

Soldiers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine returned home, including members of the Navy, the Army, the Airborne Assault Forces, the State Special Transport Service, Territorial Defense, Special Operations Forces, and the Military Law Enforcement Service, as well as members of the National Guard, the State Border Guard Service, and a rescuer from the State Emergency Service.

More than half of the freed defenders had been held in captivity since 2022, having participated in the defense of Mariupol. Five of them survived the terrorist attack in Olenivka, nine suffered from serious illnesses, and some servicemembers had been held captive since 2018 and 2020.

In total, 38 officers and enlisted personnel returned to Ukraine; they had carried out combat missions in the Donetsk, Luhansk, Kharkiv, Zaporizhzhia, Kherson, Kyiv, Mykolaiv, and Chernihiv regions, as well as defenders of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant.

Among the civilians who were successfully returned home was 74-year-old English teacher Stephen Hubbard from Izium, whom the occupiers had unlawfully convicted and subjected to torture.

As part of the exchange, Ukraine handed over 270 people to Russia.