New prisoner exchange: defenders under 25 and wounded returned

The first stage of a new prisoner exchange has taken place. Ukrainian defenders under the age of 25, including the wounded and seriously injured, have been returned.

This was announced by President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

He notes that this is only the first stage — the exchange will take place in stages in the coming days.

«The process is quite complicated, there are many sensitive details, and negotiations continue almost every day. We hope that the agreements on humanitarian issues reached during the meeting in Istanbul will be fully implemented. We are doing our best to bring everyone back. We are working for this at all levels», Volodymyr Zelenskyy wrote.

We would like to remind you that among all Ukrainian prisoners held in the Russian Federation, the largest number of representatives are from units of the Mykolaiv brigades. In particular, we are talking about the marines of the 36th Brigade.

Earlier, the human rights organisation «Media Initiative for Human Rights» reported that almost 1300 servicemen from the 36th Separate Marine Brigade named after Rear Admiral Mykhailo Bilinskyi from Mykolaiv were held captive by the Russian Federation.

Prisoner exchange in the format «1000 for 1000»

During negotiations in Turkey on 16 May, the Ukrainian and Russian delegations agreed to conduct a large-scale exchange of prisoners in the format of «1000 for 1000».

As a reminder, on Friday, as part of the first stage of the exchange, Ukraine returned 390 people — 270 military and 120 civilians. After that, on 24 May, another 307 servicemen returned to Ukraine as part of the second stage of the exchange.

On Sunday, 25 May, the third stage of the exchange was completed. Another 303 Ukrainian defenders were returned home.