Zelensky on the exchange: "We were able to accomplish a task that seemed almost impossible to many"

Zelensky on the exchange: "We were able to accomplish a task that seemed almost impossible to many"

Kyiv  •  UNN

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Thanks to the efforts and mediation of the Vatican, Ukraine managed to accomplish a seemingly impossible task - to return 90 soldiers and 10 civilians, including Christian priests, from Russian captivity.

During his participation in the National Prayer Breakfast, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Ukraine managed to fulfill a task that seemed almost impossible to many - to return 90 of our soldiers and ten civilians from Russian captivity, UNN reports .

These days, we were able to accomplish a task that seemed almost impossible to many. We returned 90 of our soldiers and ten civilians from Russian captivity. Among them are Christian priests Bohdan Geleta and Ivan Levytskyi. They are now here with us. I would very much like us to welcome them all. We thank you very much for your strength and for the dignity with which you have come this far, through all this,

- Zelensky said.

Details

He noted that Geleta Levitsky preached the word of God in Berdiansk, in the parish of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church.

"On November 16, 22, the occupiers captured them and have been holding them in captivity ever since. Thanks to the efforts of our team and the mediation of the Vatican, for which I am especially grateful, thank you very much, we managed to return them to freedom. We believed that it would be possible. We worked for it. And in the same way, you and I must not give up and fight to bring home everyone, all our people who are still in Russian captivity, all Ukrainian children who were abducted in the occupied territory and deported by force to Russia. We must fight to return normal life and security to every city and every Ukrainian community - to all those who suffer from Russian evil, from Russian strikes and who, unfortunately, are under Russian occupation," Zelensky added.

Recall

On Friday, June 28, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announcedthat Ukraine had managed to return ten more people from Russian captivity. Among them is Nariman Dzhelial, deputy chairman of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people.