Ukraine brings back 90 POWs from Russian captivity.

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Editor's note: This story is being updated. Ukraine has brought back 90 people from Russian captivity on June 25 as part of a prisoner exchange, President Volodymyr Zelensky said. This includes service personnel of the Armed Forces and the National Guard, and border guards.

The former captives were exchanged for 90 Russian soldiers, the Russian state news agency RIA Novosti reported, citing the country's Defense Ministry. "We remember all our people in Russian captivity. We continue to work for the release of everyone.

We are looking for the truth about everyone who may be held by the enemy," Zelensky said.

Ukraine has brought back 90 people from Russian captivity on June 25 as part of a prisoner exchange. (Volodymyr Zelensky/Telegram)

Ukraine has brought back 90 people from Russian captivity on June 25 as part of a prisoner exchange. (Volodymyr Zelensky/Telegram)

Ukraine has brought back 90 people from Russian captivity on June 25 as part of a prisoner exchange. (Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War)

Ukraine has brought back 90 people from Russian captivity on June 25 as part of a prisoner exchange. (Volodymyr Zelensky/Telegram)

The released captives include 32 personnel of the National Guard, including those who defended the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant, 18 border guards, 17 personnel of the Navy, 15 soldiers of the Armed Forces as well as eight of the territorial defense, the Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War reported. Ukraine brought back 59 defenders of the city of Mariupol, including 52 soldiers who left its stronghold -- the Azovstal steel plant, according to the headquarters. This is the 53rd prisoner exchange since the outbreak of the full-scale war.

As of May 31, 3,300 Ukrainian soldiers have been freed from Russian captivity, Ukraine's Ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets said. The headquarters thanked the United Arab Emirates for their role in facilitating the latest exchange. The previous prisoner exchange occurred on May 31, with 75 Ukrainians freed from Russian captivity.

Before that, on Jan.

3, 230 prisoners were exchanged in the largest prisoner exchange since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion. Kyiv aims to conduct an all-for-all prisoner exchange, which was one of the subjects at Ukraine's peace summit in Switzerland in mid-June.

The Counteroffensive: Inside Ukraine's prisoner of war negotiations with Russia Editor's Note: This article was published by the twice-weekly newsletter "The Counteroffensive with Tim Mak" on May 12, 2024, and has been re-published by the Kyiv Independent with permission.

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