“We have brought home 36 of our people, 1 civilian and 35 soldiers,” the head of the presidential office in Kiev, Andriy Yermak, said via Telegram. Among the people released are soldiers who defended the city of Mariupol and suffered of the National Guard captured at the beginning of the war in the exclusion zone around the Chernobyl nuclear power plant.
The released Ukrainians are said to be between the ages of 19 and 56.
The Russian Defense Ministry in Moscow confirmed that 35 of its soldiers were released on Wednesday. They are now being flown to Moscow for medical treatment.