Ukraine announces largest prisoner exchange yet, including Mariupol fighters.
Source: New York Times
Ukraine announced the largest exchange of prisoners of war since Russia launched its invasion in February, with 144 soldiers returned to Ukraine, including dozens of soldiers who defended against the Russian siege of Mariupol, a southern port city that became a symbol of Russian repression and Ukrainian defiance.
While the exchange has been shrouded in secrecy, Denis Pushilin, the head of Russian proxy forces in the Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine, said that 144 Russian and proxy forces were returned home in exchange for the 144 Ukrainians.
More than 2,500 Ukrainian soldiers surrendered in mid-May after holding out for months in bunkers beneath the sprawling Azovstal steel factory in Mariupol. Their surrender was carefully negotiated between Russia, Ukraine and international mediators, and marked the end of one of the war’s most brutal battles.
While Ukraine and Russia have exchanged prisoners on several occasions over the course of the war — including 17 Ukrainians returned in an exchange announced earlier this week — the fate of the garrison from Mariupol has been among the most sensitive issues of the war. When the Ukrainian government issued the surrender directive to end the standoff, the government vowed to do all it could to ensure they would be returned home.
Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/29/world/europe/ukraine-prisoner-exchange-mariupol.html
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