Our Homes: As Part of the Latest Prisoner Exchange, 303 Defenders Returned to Ukraine
Kyiv • UNN
The third stage of the "1000 for 1000" prisoner exchange, agreed upon in Turkey, has taken place. Soldiers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the National Guard, border guards, and employees of the State Special Transport Service are returning home.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced the third, final part of the "1000 for 1000" exchange of prisoners of war, which the Ukrainian and Russian delegations agreed on May 16 during a meeting in Istanbul.
This is reported by UNN with reference to the pages of President Zelenskyy and the Commissioner of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine for Human Rights.
Details
303 Ukrainian defenders are at home. The third part of the exchange in the format of 1000 for 1000, which was agreed upon in Turkey, has been completed. Today, soldiers of our army, the National Guard, the State Border Guard Service and the State Special Transport Service are returning. I thank the team that worked around the clock to successfully implement this exchange. We will definitely return everyone from Russian captivity!
Ombudsman Lubinets reported on monitoring at the exchange site regarding compliance with the norms of the Geneva Convention
According to the Commissioner of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine for Human Rights, among those returned are a significant number of defenders who were captured in 2022.
The post also indicates representatives of which services have returned from Russian captivity today. These are:
- State Border Guard Service,
- State Special Transport Service,
- National Guard of Ukraine;
- Armed Forces of Ukraine:
- Territorial Defense Forces;
- Air Assault Forces;
- Special Operations Forces;
- Naval Forces;
- Air Forces.
Employees of our institution continue to be at the venue. They monitor the observance of human rights in accordance with the norms of the Geneva Convention on the Treatment of Prisoners of War. And they also help the Defenders to inform their relatives that they are at home.
Let us remind
UNN, citing sources, reported that the exchange of prisoners of war between Ukraine and Russia in the "1000 for 1000" format was to take place in several stages over several days.
Ukraine exchanged prisoners of war and returned 390 people.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Head of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense Kyrylo Budanov, the Security Service of Ukraine and others shared new touching photos and videos of the return of Ukrainian defenders during the second day of the exchange with the Russian Federation in the "1000 for 1000" format