After 27 months of captivity: Snake island defender Volodymyr Abazher returned home for his son's graduation. A touching video

Volodymyr Abazher, a Ukrainian marine and defender of Snake Island, underwent rehabilitation after 27 months of Russian captivity and returned home to Bolhrad, Odesa region. The man immediately went to his son's graduation party.

The family of the soldier filmed a heartbreaking video of the meeting, which was published on June 22 on the Facebook page "Defenders of Snake island". "It's hard to hold back tears after watching this video. Volodymyr Abazher, a marine from Snake island returned to his hometown after rehabilitation just for his son's graduation party. Take care of each other and never be apart again! We hug you, Snake island family," the post reads.

Volodymyr Abazher is a resident of Bolhrad, a city on the eastern shore of Lake Yalpug in Odesa Oblast.

He was released from captivity on May 31, along with 18 other defenders of Snake island.

The occupiers captured him along with all the island's defenders on the first day of the full-scale invasion.

Judging by the published footage, Volodymyr surprised his family by showing up with a bouquet of flowers right at his son's graduation.

The audience at the celebration greeted the man with applause to the song "I'm Going Home" by Okean Elzy, and his family could not hold back their tears as they hugged the defender.

According to Bessarabia INFORM, six more defenders of Snake Island remain in captivity: Yevhen Dyakov, Dmytro Burkan, Mykola Budko, Vitaliy Girenko, Volodymyr Gutnik and Mykola Pchelinsky.

As OBOZ.UA reported, Ukraine and Russia conducted another prisoner exchange on May 31. 71 soldiers and four civilian women returned from Russian captivity. Among those released from captivity are soldiers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the National Guard, and the State Border Guard Service who defended Mariupol and Snake island, as well as guarded the Chernobyl nuclear power plant.

Photographers Kostiantyn and Vlada Liberovs showed Ukrainian defenders who returned from the Russian Federation. At the time of the shooting, the soldiers had gained 10 kilograms of weight in a week at home. According to the photographers, it was the most difficult shoot in the last six months.

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