On Ukraine’s Independence Day, as part of the 68th prisoner exchange agreed in Istanbul, dozens of defenders and civilians returned home from Russian captivity, among them UNIAN journalist Dmytro Khilyuk, who had been held for more than three years.
The Gaze reports on it, referring to different media sources.
“Today, our people are returning home. Soldiers from the Armed Forces, National Guard, State Border Guard Service, and civilians. Most of them have been in captivity since 2022,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy wrote on Telegram.
Journalist Dmytro Khilyuk, who was kidnapped in the Kyiv region in March 2022, has finally returned home to Ukraine.
He is a journalist with the Ukrainian news agency UNIAN who covered political developments and court proceedings related to Russia’s full-scale war. He was abducted from his home near Kyiv in early March 2022 during the Russian occupation of Kozarovychi, Vyshhorod district.
For more than three years, Khilyuk was held in Russian custody. Former detainees reported that prisoners in his facility—both civilians and servicemen—were routinely beaten and deprived of food. One ex-cellmate told Reporters Without Borders that Khilyuk became unrecognizable compared to pre-arrest photos and weighed no more than about 45 kilograms.
In May 2023 he was transferred to a colony in Russia’s Vladimir region; in August 2023 he briefly shared a cell with another Ukrainian prisoner for a day. In early May 2025, shortly before his release, a previously freed Ukrainian soldier unexpectedly saw him again in a prison corridor, apparently en route to a doctor, without visible fresh injuries.
On August 24, Ukraine’s Independence Day, Khilyuk finally returned home as part of a broader prisoner exchange that brought back Ukrainian soldiers, border guards, National Guard members, and civilians. His homecoming closes 3 years, 5 months, and 21 days of unlawful captivity and underscores the ongoing effort to secure the release of Ukrainians held by Russia.
The president did not specify the number of Ukrainians returned and noted that exchanges are still ongoing.
“And perhaps this is thanks to our soldiers, who are replenishing the exchange fund for Ukraine. To our team, which works every day. To our partners who are helping. We thank the UAE for its assistance. I thank everyone whose work makes it possible for our people to return,” the statement said.
The Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War reported that eight civilians were also freed. Among those released were servicemen from nearly all branches of the defense forces — paratroopers, air force, navy, territorial defense, National Guard, and border guards.
Most had spent over three years in captivity after defending Mariupol, various frontline regions, the Chornobyl nuclear plant, or being captured in occupied territories, including Crimea.
In addition to Dmytro Khilyuk, journalist Mark Kaliush also returned home.
“Among the released civilians is also medic Serhiy Kovalov from the ”Hospitaliers" battalion, who saved the lives of defenders and civilians during the siege at the Azovstal plant. Former Kherson Mayor Volodymyr Mykolayenko, who refused to cooperate with the occupiers, is also returning home," the Headquarters confirmed.
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