Ukraine retrieves 95 defenders from captivity: volunteer who flew to Azovstal among them – photos

On July 17, Ukraine managed to retrieve 95 defenders from Russian captivity, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced.

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Among those released are soldiers from the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the National Guard, and border guards.

Zelenskyy thanked the team handling the exchanges and the United Arab Emirates for mediating this release.

"No matter how difficult it is, we are looking for everyone who may be in captivity. We have to bring everyone back," he wrote.

Human Rights Commissioner Dmytro Lubinets stated that employees from his office are present at the exchange site to monitor compliance with human rights, in accordance with international humanitarian law and the Geneva Conventions.

Ukraine has managed to retrieve a total of 3,405 people since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, according to him.

The Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War clarified that among those released are:

→ 49 soldiers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (including a participant of the "air bridge" who volunteered to fly a helicopter to Azovstal to help the units blocked there, and two from the Air Force);
→ 21 National Guard members;
→ 10 naval personnel;
→ seven from the Territorial Defense Forces;
→ five border guards, two from the State Special Transport Service;
→ one defender from a volunteer formation of the territorial community.

Also among those released is a defender who was considered missing in action.

Read also: Russian special services extracting data on Ukrainian POWs from relatives – KSHPPV