182 Ukrainians Return Home in Easter-Eve Prisoner Swap with Russia

(MENAFN) Ukraine welcomed home 182 of its nationals on Saturday in a prisoner exchange with Russia, timed ahead of the Orthodox Easter holiday, as both nations carried out the latest in a series of wartime captive releases, Ukrainian authorities confirmed.

The Coordinating Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War said in a statement that the returning group comprised 175 service members — including 25 officers — alongside seven civilians, spanning ages 22 to 63. The overwhelming majority had endured captivity since 2022, when Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine began.

The exchange offers a rare moment of relief for families separated by more than three years of grinding conflict, even as frontline fighting continues to exact a heavy toll across the country. No immediate statement was issued by Moscow detailing the terms or scope of the swap from the Russian side.

Saturday's release adds to a cumulative, if slow-moving, effort by both governments to repatriate prisoners under arrangements that have often required weeks of delicate back-channel negotiation. The timing ahead of Orthodox Easter — one of the most significant dates in the religious calendars of both nations — carries notable symbolic weight, though officials stopped short of framing the exchange in explicitly humanitarian terms.

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