Yesterday, May 31, thanks to the successful work of the Joint Center for the Coordination of the Search and Release of Prisoners of War, Ukraine freed 75 of its citizens from Russian captivity. Among those dismissed are 29 employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine, including national guardsmen, border guards and a policewoman. The defenders of Mariupol, Zmiiny Island, Gostomel and 14 defenders of the Chornobyl NPP also returned home.
This was reported by the Minister of Internal Affairs Ihor Klymenko.
The Security Service of Ukraine released exclusive footage of the exchange of prisoners, emphasizing the importance of the life of every Ukrainian.
Andriy Yermak, Head of the Office of the President reported, that among those released are 19 defenders of Zmiiny Island and 10 defenders of Mariupol and “Azovstal”.
Dmytro Lubinets, Commissioner for Human Rights of the Verkhovna Rada noted that in total, since the beginning of the full-scale war, 3,210 Ukrainians have been freed from Russian captivity.
He also informed that among these people there is a prisoner of war from “Azovstal” who saw her son for the first time in two years.
A particularly touching moment of the exchange was the meeting of the boy Dmitri with his mother, who had returned from captivity in “Azovstal”. For Dmytro, it was a special birthday present, which he celebrated on May 24. According to Lubinets, the boy was previously returned home by the Office of the Ombudsman from the temporarily occupied territory of Ukraine, and his mother, whom the Russians wanted to illegally convict, was finally able to hug her son.
