Ukraine brings back 205 defenders from Russian captivity

This was announced by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

"Today, Ukraine brought back 205 soldiers. Young guys and older men from nearly all branches of the Armed Forces. Defenders of Mariupol and fighters from across the entire front line," the president said.

He added that the Ukrainian troops had been "scattered across many Russian regions, held in prisons designed to break them and strip them of their humanity."

Zelenskyy noted that the United Arab Emirates played a key role in mediating the exchange.

"We got them back. And I thank everyone involved in making this exchange happen. I thank our partners — first and foremost, the United Arab Emirates — for their mediation and help. I thank everyone who cares and keeps speaking up about Ukrainians in captivity," the president said.

The Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War clarified that those released include service members from the Armed Forces of Ukraine — including the Navy, Air Force, Air Assault Forces, and Territorial Defense — as well as fighters from the National Guard and the State Border Guard Service.

Three Ukrainian officers and 202 soldiers and sergeants are returning home.

"The freed defenders had been fighting in the Donetsk and Luhansk directions, in the Zaporizhzhia and Kharkiv regions, in the Kherson, Sumy, and Kyiv regions — as well as defenders from the Mariupol garrison," the statement said.

The Russian Defense Ministry was the first to report the exchange.

"On May 6, as a result of the negotiation process, 205 Russian servicemen were returned from territory controlled by the Kyiv regime," the ministry said.

According to the statement, the released Russian soldiers are currently in Belarus, where they are receiving psychological and medical support. They were also allowed to contact their families. They will later be sent back to Russia "for treatment and rehabilitation in medical facilities of the Russian Defense Ministry."