'I'm going home': Ukrainian Ombudsman shares emotional footage of soldiers released from captivity
Photo: The Ombudsman showed a heartwarming video with the released soldiers (t.me/V_Zelenskiy_official)
Ukraine, today, May 24, released 307 soldiers from Russian captivity. The Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights, Dmytro Lubinets, shared a heartwarming video with the released soldiers.
"A long journey home. Through the cold of captivity, the silence of waiting, and the pain that did not kill faith," Lubinets said.
According to the Coordination Headquarters Council on Prisoners of War, some prisoners were first released from certain units and military formations.
"I want to let my family know that I am okay. I was in captivity for half a year, and I am going home. Please wait for me," said one of the released soldiers.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy also shared a video of the second stage of the large-scale prisoner exchange.
Large-scale prisoner swap
On Saturday, May 24, the second phase of a large prisoner exchange between Ukraine and Russia occurred under the 1,000-for-1,000 format. Today, 307 Ukrainian soldiers returned home. Among them were 27 defenders of Mariupol. Some soldiers from certain military units were released from captivity for the first time.
In total, 697 Ukrainians were released from Russian captivity over two days. The first phase happened the day before, on May 23, when 390 people were released, including 270 soldiers and 120 civilians. They included servicemen from the Navy, Air Assault Forces, Territorial Defense Forces, the National Guard of Ukraine, and the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine.
For more details on the first day of the prisoner exchange, read RBC-Ukraine's report.
As part of the deal, Ukraine handed over 70 collaborators who worked with the Kremlin regime to Russia. Among them was an associate of former Ukrainian MP and Kremlin ally Viktor Medvedchuk.
