As Ukraine marks 33 years of independence on August 24, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has introduced that 115 Ukrainian prisoners have been launched in a swap with Russia.
“One other 115 of our defenders have returned dwelling at the moment. They’re warriors from the Nationwide Guard, the Armed Forces, the Navy, and the State Border Guard Service,” Zelenskiy stated in a message on X.
“We keep in mind everybody. We’re looking for them and making each effort to convey all of them again,” he stated.
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A number of the launched Ukrainian prisoners spoke to RFE/RL’s Ukrainian Service from a location Ukrainian authorities requested not be disclosed.
Ihor, who supplied solely his first title, stated he was captured whereas serving as a conscript in Nationwide Guard Unit 3057, a part of the Ukrainian forces that defended town of Mariupol and surrendered to Russia in Could 2022.
In line with a Ukrainian governmental physique that oversees the remedy of prisoners of warfare, 82 of the freed Ukrainian troopers had fought in Mariupol.
“They led us out of the jail cell at 5 a.m. There have been no phrases, no rationalization. They took us to the workplace and gave us our uniforms to place them on. Then they took us someplace in automobiles,” Ihor stated. “Nobody instructed us whether or not that was a easy switch to a different jail or a prisoner swap. We arrived at an air base and have been placed on a aircraft. The aircraft arrived at one other air base. Greater than 100 of us gathered there. Solely then we understood that this was a prisoner swap.”
Andriy, one other freed soldier who gave solely his first title, stated he served in the identical Nationwide Guard unit.
“I stored dreaming about it on a regular basis in captivity — that I will be again on August 24,” stated Andriy, who struggled to reply in Ukrainian as a result of he had turn out to be accustomed to talking Russian whereas in captivity. “It is a feeling past description.”
Zelenskiy, referring to Russian troops who’ve been taken prisoner throughout Ukraine’s ongoing incursion into Russia’s Kursk area that began on August 6, stated in his put up on X that “I’m grateful to every unit that replenishes our trade fund.”
Ukraine beforehand stated that Russian troopers taken prisoner in Kursk can be used as an “trade fund” to launch Ukrainian troops from Russian captivity.
Individually, Russia’s Protection Ministry stated it obtained 115 of its personal troops, who had been captured within the Kursk area, in trade for a similar variety of Ukrainian warfare prisoners.
It stated the prisoner trade was mediated by the United Arab Emirates.
Zelenskiy additionally highlighted the heroic resistance of his individuals within the face of Russia’s unprovoked invasion in remarks devoted to Ukraine’s Independence Day on August 24 — a day that additionally marked the somber milestone of 30 months of warfare.
“Independence is in each one in all us. And united, we will win…. We withstood, restrained, and repulsed the enemy, and now we’re pushing it in its swamps. We all know what independence is, how troublesome it’s to revive it, how troublesome it’s to guard. However we additionally know that all the pieces is determined by us,” he stated.
No festivities or parades are scheduled, with many Ukrainians preferring to mark 33 years of independence by honoring these killed within the warfare.
Ukraine says its incursion in Russia’s border area of Kursk — which took Moscow unexpectedly, shocked Russia’s ruling elites, and introduced greater than 1,260 sq. kilometers and 92 settlements below its management — is supposed to ascertain a buffer zone that can put an finish to Moscow’s incessant shelling of Ukrainian civilian areas and infrastructure from throughout the border.
Ukraine’s management has repeatedly clarified the transfer will not be geared toward gaining territory, in contrast to Russia’s full-scale invasion that began on February 24, 2022, precisely 2 1/2 years in the past.
“There should be a robust border between us and the enemy, and no partitions between Ukrainians, as a result of Ukraine is in each one in all us,” Zelenskiy stated in his message recorded symbolically within the northeastern border city of Sumy, near the place Ukrainian forces crossed into Russia on August 6.
“Those that sought to show our lands right into a buffer zone ought to now fear that their very own nation would not turn out to be a buffer federation,” he stated. “That is how independence responds.”
Zelenskiy additionally not directly warned Russian President Vladimir Putin that his warfare was doomed to fail, saying that “the sick grandfather from the Pink Sq….won’t dictate his crimson traces to us.”
“How we reside, what path we observe, and what selections we make — solely Ukraine and Ukrainians will decide these for themselves. As a result of that is how independence works,” he added.
As Ukraine’s incursion into Kursk continues, Russia is urgent an offensive in Ukraine’s japanese area of Donetsk geared toward capturing the regional hub of Pokrovsk.
Ukrainian troopers preventing within the east celebrated Independence Day with weapons of their arms. A few of them shared their ideas concerning the which means of independence with RFE/RL’s Ukrainian Service.
Denys, an officer with the 93rd Mechanized Brigade, stated his technology bears a duty to protect Ukraine’s independence for his or her kids’s future.
“The cowardice of fogeys results in their kids’s slavery. We’re preventing so our kids don’t flip into slaves,” Denys stated.
“Freedom is when you possibly can breathe freely and not using a whip above you,” Vitaliy, a soldier with the 93rd Mechanized Brigade, instructed RFE/RL.
“Proper now, independence means freedom from [Russians], ending this warfare, peaceable skies above us, and saving kids from dying,” Vitaliy added.
“For me, independence is about saving our nation and never letting the warfare go on to our kids,” stated Roman, an officer from the a centesimal Mechanized Brigade.
Normal Oleksandr Syrskiy, who was promoted from colonel common to common on August 24, highlighted the sacrifices of Ukrainian troopers in defending the nation’s independence in a put up on Telegram.
“We defended our independence from the primary days of warfare — after we burned enemy columns, defended Kyiv, liberated Kharkiv area, and raised our flag over Kherson and Snake Island. The battle for our independence continues — in Pokrovsk, Toretsk, Kharkiv, and different instructions the place our troopers cease and destroy the enemy’s overwhelming drive,” stated Syrskiy.
Russian shelling killed 5 individuals and wounded 5 others on August 24 within the japanese Ukrainian metropolis of Kostyantynivka, Ukraine’s prosecutor common stated.
“Because of this enemy assault 5 residents — three males and two ladies — suffered deadly accidents,” the prosecutor stated in an announcement.
Ukraine, whose civilian and vitality infrastructure has been battered by Russian drone strikes for years, has in flip been concentrating on in current months oil and gasoline services inside Russia that work for the navy.
In the newest strike, Ukrainian drones early on August 24 set an ammunition depot on fireplace within the Ostrogozhsk district of Russia’s Voronezh area.
Regional Governor Aleksandr Gusev stated on Telegram that the hearth was began by falling drone particles and brought on ammunition to blow up. He stated there have been no casualties.
Ostrogozhsk additionally homes a coaching middle for armored automobile operators.
The Belgorod area was additionally attacked by drones at evening, Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov reported, including that two individuals have been wounded.
Russia’s Protection Ministry stated 5 drones have been downed over Voronezh and one every over the Belgorod and Bryansk areas.