Ukraine holds eighth stage of exchange with Russia: who was returned

Ukraine and Russia have held the next, eighth since early June, stage of the prisoner exchange within the framework of the agreements reached in Istanbul, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Verkhovna Rada Commissioner for Human Rights Dmytro Lubinets have said. This was announced by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and the Ukrainian parliamentary commissioner for human rights, Dmytro Lubinets.

According to the President, among those released are defenders who were held in Russian captivity since 2022. The soldiers who defended Ukraine in Donetsk, Luhansk, Kharkiv, Kherson and Mariupol regions have returned home. Among them are servicemen of the Armed Forces, the National Guard, the State Border Service and the State Special Transport Service, as well as civilians.

Our people are at home. Most of them have been in captivity since 2022. This is the result of a huge joint work of all involved agencies," Zelensky said.

Those sentenced to long terms have been released

As Dmytro Lubinets specified, the peculiarity of the current stage is the release of Ukrainians who were previously sentenced to long prison terms by Russia. The defenders who were considered missing were also returned.

This exchange is the result of large-scale work of state bodies that are part of the Coordination Headquarters for the treatment of prisoners of war. The work continues on the instructions of the President," he emphasised.

Among those released are officers and young fighters. The youngest of them is only 20 years old, the oldest is 59.

The military men who defended Mariupol, who had spent more than three years in captivity, were once again brought back from captivity. Most of them had been held in Russia since 2022.

What happened at the previous stage

The seventh stage of the exchange took place on 26 June. Then it was possible to return the fighters of the Navy, Army and Airborne Assault Troops, Territorial Defence Forces, the National Guard and the State Border Service. Those released also spent more than three years in captivity. Among them were seriously wounded, sick and young servicemen, including those captured during the retreat from the Chernobyl nuclear power plant.

The number of those released was not officially disclosed, as in previous phases.

Earlier, Socialportal wrote about the story of Ukrainian human rights defender Maksym Butkevych, who spent more than two years in Russian captivity. Maksym was sentenced to 13 years in the Russian Federation on a trumped-up case, which claimed that he was an extremist who ran a group of far-right radicals. These charges shocked everyone who knew Maksim. He was a human rights activist for decades, co-founder of the organisation Without Borders, and one of the few people in Ukraine who cared about the fate of asylum seekers, refugees, and foreign students who faced arbitrariness, rudeness, and intolerance. He also helped political refugees stemming from authoritarian regimes, primarily Putin's.