Ukraine secures return of 175 POWs and seven civilians in exchange with Russia

Servicemen of Ukraine’s Armed Forces, National Guard and State Border Guard Service, as well as seven civilian Ukrainians, have returned home, Zelenskyy said.

Most of those exchanged had been in captivity since 2022. They defended Mariupol and the Chornobyl nuclear power plant and fought in the Donetsk, Luhansk, Kharkiv, Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, Sumy, Kyiv and Kursk directions.

The Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War later clarified that during the 72nd exchange, held ahead of Easter, 25 officers were freed, whom the Russian side had previously categorically refused to exchange. More than half of those released had been captured during the defense of Mariupol.

The statement said the youngest person freed is 22, while the oldest is 63.

Seven civilian Ukrainians captured by Russia in 2022 were also released.

The previous prisoner exchanges between Ukraine and Russia took place on March 5 and 6, when 500 Ukrainians — including members of the Armed Forces, the State Special Transport Service, the State Border Guard Service and the National Guard — returned from Russian captivity.

On March 26, Head of the President’s Office Kyrylo Budanov expressed hope that a new large prisoner exchange between Ukraine and Russia would take place around Easter.