95 Ukrainian Defenders Return Home From Russian Captivity

Ninety-five Ukrainian defenders were returned from Russian captivity on Wednesday, July 17 President Volodymyr Zelensky said.

“We continue to bring our people home...These are soldiers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the National Guard, and border guards,” Zelensky said. “No matter how difficult it may be, we are looking for everyone who may be in captivity. We have to return everyone.”

After the returned prisoners of war (POWs) have phone calls with their relatives, they’ll eat, get clean clothes, be examined by doctors, and receive any necessary treatment or rehabilitation, Ukrainian Parliamentary Commissioner for Human Rights Dmytro Lubinets wrote on Telegram.

The Russian Defense Ministry also confirmed the exchange and wrote that “as a result of the negotiation process, 95 Russian servicemen who were in mortal danger in captivity were returned from the territory controlled by the Kyiv regime.”

The United Arab Emirates provided mediation for the prisoner swap.

“A total of 3,405 of our men have been brought home since the start of the full-scale invasion,” Lubinets wrote.

There are plans in the works to have a major exchange of female prisoners of war, Suspilne reported on July 9, citing Lubinets.

“The United Arab Emirates is helping us. We can say this publicly. We are developing a new toolkit to protect the rights of prisoners of war while they remain in Russian captivity,” the ombudsman said.

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Lubinets said that Ukraine prioritizes two categories of POW for return – the severely wounded and women.

“Ukraine is actively working to attract international support for the return of our defenders and appreciates the assistance provided in this context,” HUR spokesman Andriy Yusov told the Kyiv Post in May, adding: “We are very grateful for the active mediation role played by the UAE.”

While Yusov could not disclose all the details of the UAE’s mediation, he said that its role is very important.

“This is joint active diplomatic work,” Yusov said.

Past exchanges

Ukraine and Russia periodically conduct prisoner exchanges. The last was in June and the previous one in May.

June 25:

Ukraine brought back 90 soldiers from Russian captivity. Among them were soldiers from the National Guard, the Navy, the Army, the Territorial Defense, and the Border Guard. There were soldiers from the Kherson, Donetsk, Kharkiv, Zaporizhzhia and Luhansk regions.

Fifty-two of these were defenders of the Azovstal steel plant – the last site of Ukrainian resistance in Russia’s invasion of Mariupol, and National Guard officers who defended the Chornobyl nuclear power plant – which was temporarily occupied at the beginning of the February 2022 invasion.

May 31:

With the assistance of the UAE, Ukraine had a 75-for-75 exchange of POWs with Russia. On the Ukrainian side, there were 70 men and five woman – at least a third of which were injured, seriously ill, or disabled.

Among those that were returned, there were 10 Azovstal/Mariupol defenders and 19 people taken prisoner at Zmiinyi Island (Snake Island) – which was temporarily occupied in the early days of Russia’s invasion and is famously the site where a Ukrainian National Guardsman, responded to a transmission from a Russian warship requesting surrender and threatening bombardment, said “Russian warship, go f**k yourself.”