Zelenskyy reports return of 175 soldiers, seven civilians from Russian captivity

Some 175 Ukrainian servicemen have returned home from Russian captivity, and seven civilians were brought back with them, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.

“Our people are returning home. Some 175 servicemembers. Warriors of the Armed Forces, National Guard members, border guards. Privates, sergeants, and officers. And seven civilians,” Zelenskyy said on X Saturday.

According to him, most of those who returned had been in captivity since 2022. “Our warriors defended Ukraine on different fronts – Mariupol, the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant, the Donetsk, Luhansk, Kharkiv, Kherson, Zaporizhia, Sumy, Kyiv, and Kursk directions. Some of them are wounded,” the President said.

At the same time, he thanked the units “that replenish our exchange fund and thereby brings the return of our people closer.” “Bringing everyone back from Russian captivity is a matter of principle for us,” Zelenskyy stressed.

The Russian Defense Ministry also reported the transfer of 175 Ukrainian servicemen to the Ukrainian side in exchange for the same number of occupiers who were in Ukrainian captivity. The Russian Defense Ministry also reported that the exchange took place with the mediation of the United Arab Emirates.

The aggressor state has not reported anything about the return or exchange of civilians.

As reported, the last exchange of prisoners of war took place on March 6. Then 300 Ukrainian defenders returned from Russian captivity, along with two Ukrainian civilians.

On March 26, Zelenskyy reported that over the four years of work of the Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War, 8,669 Ukrainians, both military and civilian, have been returned home.