Youngest released defender is 23, captured at 19 — Coordination Headquarters
As part of a new prisoner exchange, 150 Ukrainian servicemen and seven civilians have returned to Ukraine.
This was reported by the Coordination Headquarters for Prisoner of War Affairs.
Among those released are soldiers, sergeants, and officers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, including representatives of the Navy, Ground Forces, Air Assault Forces, Air Forces, Territorial Defence, as well as the National Guard and the State Border Guard Service.
Most of the military personnel were captured during the defence of Mariupol and during the seizure of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant. In total, 139 of those freed had been held in Russian captivity since 2022. In addition, the exchange included the return of unlawfully sentenced Ukrainians.
The youngest released defender is 23 years old — he was captured at the age of 19 during the defence of Mariupol and had been sentenced by a Russian court to life imprisonment. The oldest released serviceman is 63.
The freed Ukrainians served on various fronts, including Luhansk, Donetsk, Kharkiv, Zaporizhzhia, Kherson, Sumy, and Kyiv directions.
Ukraine conducted the new prisoner exchange under which 157 Ukrainians — military personnel and civilians — returned home, including members of the Armed Forces, National Guard, and State Border Guard Service.
