Ukraine Brings Home Youngest and Long-Held POWs in Major Exchange with Russia

Ukraine has secured the release of a group of young and wounded defenders from Russian captivity in a new prisoner swap conducted under the Istanbul agreements, The Gaze reports.

Coordinated by the national Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War, the exchange included servicemen from the Armed Forces, Navy, Ground Forces, Air Assault Forces, Territorial Defense Forces, the National Guard, and the State Border Guard Service.

Many of the released defenders had spent over three years in captivity, with a significant number captured during the brutal siege of Mariupol. 

The youngest soldier returned is just 24 years old and was taken prisoner in April 2022 at age 21. The oldest among them is 62. Several officers were also among those freed.

In a notable addition, Ukraine managed to secure the return of National Guardsmen who had been guarding the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant in the early days of Russia’s full-scale invasion.

The soldiers defended Ukrainian positions across multiple fronts—including Donetsk, Kharkiv, Luhansk, Kherson, Kyiv, and Sumy. 

Following their return, they will receive full medical care, psychological rehabilitation, and all compensation due for the duration of their captivity.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy acknowledged the exchange, stating that most of the soldiers had been held since 2022 and reaffirming Ukraine’s determination to locate and bring home every captured defender.

As The Gaze previously reported, on June 20 Ukraine has secured the return of a group of severely wounded and gravely ill defenders from Russian captivity as part of an ongoing humanitarian exchange effort governed by the Istanbul agreements.