Over 200 Ukrainian soldiers and civilians returned from Russian captivity. Video

After a long break, Ukraine managed to conduct a new exchange of prisoners - 230 Ukrainian soldiers and civilians returned home. The Russian side handed over 248 occupation prisoners of war.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced the return of our citizens on January 3 in Telegram. Among the exchanged defenders of the country are soldiers, sergeants, officers; soldiers of the Armed Forces, the National Guard, the Navy, and the State Border Guard Service.

"Some of the defenders also defended Azovstal," the guarantor wrote.

The penultimate exchange took place on August 7, 2023. After that, Russia effectively froze the process for several months.

"Thank you to everyone who is bringing our people home despite all the difficulties! Thank you to our defenders! We will do everything to return all our people who are now in Russian captivity," Zelensky said.

The"I Want to Live" project reported: Ukraine consistently continues to offer various formats of exchanges, the main one being the "all for all" scheme.

The press service added that the exchange on January 3 is one of the largest exchanges since the full-scale invasion of our territory by the Russian Federation.

"Today, 248 prisoners of war of the Russian army went to the starting point and we hope we will not see them again, at least on the territory of our country," the Telegram channel "I want to live" said.

"Everything was not in vain and the efforts aimed at unblocking the exchanges were not in vain... We began publishing lists of Russian prisoners of war that were being refused by Russian Defense Ministry officials, shedding light on this problem, and it seems to have worked," the project organizers suggested.

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