This is the largest exchange of prisoners of war during the full-scale invasion.

Among those released are border guards who served in Donetsk, Kharkiv, Izmail (defenders of Zmiinyi Island), Kherson border guard detachments, as well as soldiers from the Mariupol maritime guard detachment.

 “Our defenders are at home. More than 200 of our soldiers and civilians have been returned from russian captivity. Soldiers, sergeants, officers, the Armed Forces military men, the National Guard, the Navy, border guards. Some of them defended Mariupol and Azovstal. My thanks to our defenders! We will do everything to return all our people who are now in russian captivity”, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyi said in a Telegram message.