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 residence in the present day. They’re warriors from the Nationwide Guard, the Armed Forces, the Navy, and the State Border Guard Service,” Zelenskiy mentioned in a message on X.
“We bear in mind everybody. We’re looking for them and making each effort to carry all of them again,” he mentioned.
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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 identify, mentioned 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 Might 2022.
In response to 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 mentioned. “Nobody informed 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 identify, mentioned 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,” mentioned 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, mentioned in his put up on X that “I’m grateful to every unit that replenishes our change fund.”
Ukraine beforehand mentioned that Russian troopers taken prisoner in Kursk could be used as an “change fund” to launch Ukrainian troops from Russian captivity.
Individually, Russia’s Protection Ministry mentioned it acquired 115 of its personal troops, who had been captured within the Kursk area, in change for a similar variety of Ukrainian warfare prisoners.
It mentioned the prisoner change was mediated by the United Arab Emirates.
Zelenskiy additionally highlighted the heroic resistance of his folks 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 among us. And united, we are able to win…. We withstood, restrained, and repulsed the enemy, and now we’re pushing it in its swamps. We all know what independence is, how tough it’s to revive it, how tough it’s to guard. However we additionally know that every little thing depends upon us,” he mentioned.
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 without warning, shocked Russia’s ruling elites, and introduced greater than 1,260 sq. kilometers and 92 settlements beneath 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, not like 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 every one among us,” Zelenskiy mentioned 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 mentioned. “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 Crimson Sq….is not going to dictate his purple strains to us.”
“How we reside, what path we comply with, 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 fingers. 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, mentioned his technology bears a accountability to protect Ukraine’s independence for his or her youngsters’s future.
“The cowardice of oldsters results in their youngsters’s slavery. We’re preventing so our youngsters don’t flip into slaves,” Denys mentioned.
“Freedom is when you possibly can breathe freely and not using a whip above you,” Vitaliy, a soldier with the 93rd Mechanized Brigade, informed RFE/RL.
“Proper now, independence means freedom from [Russians], ending this warfare, peaceable skies above us, and saving youngsters from dying,” Vitaliy added.
“For me, independence is about saving our nation and never letting the warfare cross on to our youngsters,” mentioned Roman, an officer from the a centesimal Mechanized Brigade.
Basic Oleksandr Syrskiy, who was promoted from colonel normal to normal 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 combat for our independence continues — in Pokrovsk, Toretsk, Kharkiv, and different instructions the place our troopers cease and destroy the enemy’s overwhelming drive,” mentioned Syrskiy.
Russian shelling killed 5 folks and wounded 5 others on August 24 within the japanese Ukrainian metropolis of Kostyantynivka, Ukraine’s prosecutor normal mentioned.
“Because of this enemy assault 5 residents — three males and two ladies — suffered deadly accidents,” the prosecutor mentioned in an announcement.
Ukraine, whose civilian and power infrastructure has been battered by Russian drone strikes for years, has in flip been focusing on in current months oil and gasoline amenities inside Russia that work for the army.
In the latest 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 mentioned on Telegram that the fireplace was began by falling drone particles and prompted ammunition to blow up. He mentioned 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 folks have been wounded.
Russia’s Protection Ministry mentioned 5 drones have been downed over Voronezh and one every over the Belgorod and Bryansk areas.