Prisoner Exchange: How Many 'Azov' Fighters Returned Home (Photos).

95 Ukrainian Defenders Returned from Russian Captivity

On October 18, 95 Ukrainian defenders returned from Russian captivity, including 34 fighters of the "Azov" brigade. This was reported by the brigade commander, Denys Prokopenko. "In times of heavy battles, such news gives strength and boosts the morale of the personnel of the 12th Azov Brigade. To Ukraine from Russian captivity returned another 34 servicemen of the Azov brigade. These warriors defended Mariupol for 86 days, left the territory of Azovstal by order, and spent two and a half years in Russian captivity. Thanks to the fighters of the Mariupol garrison, Ukraine withstood the first blow in the spring of 2022," the message says.

Denys Prokopenko added that about 900 fighters of the Azov brigade remain in Russian prisons.

Recall that on October 18, 95 Ukrainian prisoners of war returned home. "The peculiarity of this exchange is that many Ukrainians are returning home, who received the so-called "verdicts" of the judicial system of the aggressor country and were "convicted": 28 - to long terms, and 20 - to life imprisonment for defending their own land from the aggressor," the Coordination Headquarters' message says.

It is worth noting that on October 18, human rights activist, journalist, activist and co-founder of the Zmina Human Rights Center, Maksym Butkevych, was liberated from Russian captivity. His father reported this to Zmina.