Ukrainian intelligence hails success in freeing hard-to-release POWs
A new prisoner exchange took place (Photo: t.me/V\_Zelenskiy\_official)
During yesterday's prisoner exchange, most of those released belonged to a high-risk category. These officers are usually the most difficult to free, said Andrii Yusov, a representative of the Defense Intelligence of Ukraine.
“During this stage, most of those returned are officers,” said the representative of the Main Intelligence Directorate.
He reminded that the numbers are not disclosed until all stages of the major exchange are completed.
“But the fact that most of the officers were returned today is very good news, as we know this is a category that is difficult to bring back,” he added.
Prisoner exchanges
During the second meeting in Istanbul, Ukraine and Russia reached an agreement on a large-scale prisoner exchange.
The parties specifically agreed to return:
- wounded soldiers,
- seriously ill military personnel,
- all prisoners aged 18 to 25.
The first stages of the exchange took place on June 9, 10, and 12. Separately, an exchange of bodies of the fallen under the 6000 for 6000 scheme occurred on June 11, 13, and 14. Over 3,600 bodies of the fallen have already been returned to Ukraine.
Today, June 14, a new stage of the prisoner exchange took place. Among those released were many who had been in captivity since 2022, including defenders of Mariupol.
It is also known that some of those freed today had previously been considered missing in action.
