POW exchange on October 2: 185 servicemen and 20 civilians were returned from Russian captivity
On October 2, a combined exchange of prisoners of war took place, bringing 185 military personnel and 20 illegally detained civilians back to Ukraine. Some of them were released in accordance with agreements reached in Istanbul, while others were released as part of the regular exchange.
Almost all of those released had been in captivity since 2022. The oldest defender is 59 years old, and the youngest is 26. These are servicemen of the National Guard, the State Border Guard Service, the Armed Forces of Ukraine, in particular the Territorial Defense Forces, the Airborne Forces, the Navy, and the Ground Forces.
The soldiers defended Ukraine in the Luhansk, Donetsk, Kharkiv, Zaporizhzhia, Kherson, Kyiv, Sumy, and Chernihiv regions. These included defenders of Mariupol and National Guard soldiers who were captured at the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant.
Among those released were two servicemen of the 12th Special Forces Brigade “Azov.” This was reported by Colonel Denys “Redis” Prokopenko, commander of the 1st Corps of the National Guard of Ukraine “Azov”:
Today, two servicemen of the 12th Special Forces Brigade “Azov” returned to Ukraine from Russian captivity. I welcome our brothers-in-arms, who spent almost three and a half years in the inhumane conditions of Russian prisons, back to their homeland, to their loved ones. Thank you for your strength of spirit and for your resilience.
He emphasized that every soldier who fought in Mariupol, did not betray his oath, and carried out his order must be exchanged.
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