Ukraine exchanged prisoners with Russia — 90 Ukrainians returned home.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyi announced that soldiers of the National Guard, the Navy, the Ground Forces, the National Guard and border guards were exchanged. Among them are the defenders of Mariupol and the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, who were taken prisoner at the beginning of the invasion in the winter of 2022, as well as military personnel who fought in the Kherson, Donetsk, Kharkiv, Zaporizhzhya and Luhansk directions.
The coordination headquarters specified that 32 national guardsmen, 18 border guards, 17 representatives of the Navy, 15 soldiers of the Armed Forces and 8 soldiers of the Teroboronov team returned. Among them are 59 defenders of Mariupol, 52 of them fighters who left Azovstal. 5 National Guardsmen guarding the Chernobyl nuclear power plant were also released from captivity.
Ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets noted that this was the 53rd exchange of prisoners of war. To date, it has been possible to return 3,300 Ukrainians.
The United Arab Emirates helped in the exchange.
The Russian side also received 90 of its prisoners.
- The preliminary exchange of prisoners took place on May 31. Then 75 Ukrainians returned home.