Marine From Mykolaiv Region Returns From Russian Captivity After More Than Four Years

(MENAFN- UkrinForm) The marine's mother, Hanna Ivanivna, told a Ukrinform correspondent about this.

“When they called me yesterday and told me that Yevhen had returned... We had been waiting for this for so long that I was both overjoyed and in disbelief. I was overwhelmed with emotions that are hard to put into words,” the woman said.

His mother added that she never doubted her son's return. Just two days ago, she sent him a letter-one she had been putting off writing for some reason, perhaps sensing something on a subconscious level.

Yevhen Uimanov had been held captive since April 12, 2022. In civilian life, he was a construction worker, but on the first day of the full-scale invasion, he went to the military registration and enlistment office, just like three other members of his family-his father, his sister's husband, and his father-in-law. He was assigned to the 36th Marine Brigade.

“On February 28, he called home and said he was in the Donetsk region, near Volnovakha. Later, we found out that they were defending Mariupol. Then there was another call-on the night of March 17. To call us, he had to climb onto the roof of a high-rise building. That's when the connection was lost,” said the Marine's mother.

Lilia, Yevhen's sister, constantly searched the internet for any news about her family. After all, her husband, Oleksandr Shepelya, and her father, Hennadii Uimanov-who served in the 79th Airborne Assault Brigade and were also defending the Donetsk region-went missing at the same time as her brother. She found a video of our marines who had been taken prisoner near the Ilyich Mariupol Metallurgical Plant and recognized her brother by the backpack that Yevhen had taken from his son when he went to war. Later, Lilia found a photo online of the prisoner holding a tag with his last name and date of birth. Although he looked very gaunt and was wearing dirty clothes, his family was certain it was Yevhenii.

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“The first message from him came as early as 2023. We wrote him many letters, but they took 7–9 months to arrive, and not all of them made it. At first, his messages were very short, but lately he's started writing a little more. He said he missed us very much and wanted chocolate and condensed milk. And in one of his most recent letters, he even wrote that he already had a business plan, and when he returned home, he would need my help to put it into action,” said Anna Ivanivna.

Her son-in-law and husband, as it turned out later, were also taken prisoner in April 2022. Her husband returned home as a result of a prisoner exchange in June 2025; her son-in-law remains in captivity.

The fate of another relative, Arkady, Yevgeny's father-in-law, remains unknown; he is considered missing in action.

As reported by Ukrinform, 270 Ukrainians returned to Ukraine on October 23 as a result of a prisoner-of-war exchange

Photo from the family archive

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