Kyiv, Moscow Swap Prisoners As Ukraine Marks Independence Day

As Ukraine marks 33 years of independence on August 24, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has introduced that 115 Ukrainian prisoners had been launched in a swap with Russia.

“Another 115 of our defenders have returned residence immediately. They are warriors from the National Guard, the Armed Forces, the Navy, and the State Border Guard Service,” Zelenskiy stated in a message on X.

“We keep in mind everybody. We are trying to find them and making each effort to carry all of them again,” he stated.

Some of the launched Ukrainian prisoners spoke to RFE/RL’s Ukrainian Service from a location Ukrainian authorities requested not be disclosed.

Ihor, who supplied solely his first title, stated he was captured whereas serving as a conscript in National Guard Unit 3057, a part of the Ukrainian forces that defended town of Mariupol and surrendered to Russia in May 2022.

“They led us out of the jail cell at 5 a.m. There had been no phrases, no clarification. They took us to the workplace and gave us our uniforms to place them on. Then they took us someplace in automobiles,” Ihor stated. “No one informed us whether or not that was a easy switch to a different jail or a prisoner swap. We arrived at an air base and had been placed on a airplane. The airplane arrived at one other air base. More than 100 of us gathered there. Only then we understood that this was a prisoner swap.”

Andriy, one other freed soldier who gave solely his first title, stated he served in the identical National Guard unit.

“I saved dreaming about it on a regular basis in captivity — that I’ll be again on August 24,” stated Andriy, who struggled to reply in Ukrainian as a result of he stated his captors pressured their captives to talk Russian. “It’s a sense past description.”

Zelenskiy, referring to Russian troops who’ve been taken prisoner throughout Ukraine’s ongoing incursion into Russia’s Kursk area that began on August 6, stated in his submit on X that “I’m grateful to every unit that replenishes our alternate fund.”

Ukraine beforehand stated that Russian troopers taken prisoner in Kursk could be used as an “alternate fund” to launch Ukrainian troops from Russian captivity.

The U.S.-based Institute for the Study of War (ISW) estimated, primarily based on statements by Ukrainian officers, that greater than 2,000 Russian troops had been captured through the first week of the incursion.

Separately, Russia’s Defense Ministry stated it obtained 115 of its personal troops in alternate for a similar variety of Ukrainian warfare prisoners.

It stated the prisoner alternate was mediated by the United Arab Emirates.

Zelenskiy additionally highlighted the heroic resistance of his folks within the face of Russia’s unprovoked invasion in remarks devoted to Ukraine’s Independence Day on August 24 — a day that additionally marked the somber milestone of 30 months of warfare.

“Independence is in each one in all us. And united, we are able to win…. We withstood, restrained, and repulsed the enemy, and now we’re pushing it in its swamps. We know what independence is, how troublesome it’s to revive it, how troublesome it’s to guard. But we additionally know that every little thing will depend on us,” he stated.

No festivities or parades are scheduled, with many Ukrainians preferring to mark 33 years of independence by honoring these killed within the warfare.

Ukraine says its incursion in Russia’s border area of Kursk — which took Moscow abruptly, shocked Russia’s ruling elites, and introduced greater than 1,260 sq. kilometers and 92 settlements beneath its management — is supposed to determine a buffer zone that may put an finish to Moscow’s incessant shelling of Ukrainian civilian areas and infrastructure from throughout the border.

Ukraine’s management has repeatedly clarified the transfer is just not aimed toward gaining territory, in contrast to Russia’s full-scale invasion that began on February 24, 2022, precisely 2 1/2 years in the past.

“There should be a robust border between us and the enemy, and no partitions between Ukrainians, as a result of Ukraine is in every one in all us,” Zelenskiy stated in his message recorded symbolically within the northeastern border city of Sumy, near the place Ukrainian forces crossed into Russia on August 6.

“Those who sought to show our lands right into a buffer zone ought to now fear that their very own nation would not turn into a buffer federation,” he stated. “This is how independence responds.”

Zelenskiy additionally not directly warned Russian President Vladimir Putin that his warfare was doomed to fail, saying that “the sick grandfather from the Red Square…won’t dictate his crimson traces to us.”

“How we reside, what path we comply with, and what decisions we make — solely Ukraine and Ukrainians will decide these for themselves. Because that is how independence works,” he added.

As Ukraine’s incursion into Kursk continues, Russia is urgent an offensive in Ukraine’s japanese area of Donetsk aimed toward capturing the regional hub of Pokrovsk.

Ukrainian troopers combating within the east celebrated Independence Day with weapons of their fingers. Some of them shared their ideas concerning the which means of independence with RFE/RL’s Ukrainian Service.

Denys, an officer with the 93rd Mechanized Brigade, stated his era bears a accountability to protect Ukraine’s independence for his or her kids’s future.

“The cowardice of fogeys results in their kids’s slavery. We are combating so our youngsters don’t flip into slaves,” Denys stated.

“Freedom is when you may breathe freely with out a whip above you,” Vitaliy, a soldier with the 93rd Mechanized Brigade, informed RFE/RL.

“Right now, independence means freedom from [Russians], ending this warfare, peaceable skies above us, and saving kids from dying,” Vitaliy added.

“For me, independence is about saving our nation and never letting the warfare move on to our youngsters,” stated Roman, an officer from the one centesimal Mechanized Brigade.

General Oleksandr Syrskiy, the commander-in-chief of Ukraine’s army, highlighted the sacrifices of Ukrainian troopers in defending the nation’s independence in a submit on Telegram.

“We defended our independence from the primary days of warfare — after we burned enemy columns, defended Kyiv, liberated Kharkiv area, and raised our flag over Kherson and Snake Island. The battle for our independence continues — in Pokrovsk, Toretsk, Kharkiv, and different instructions the place our troopers cease and destroy the enemy’s overwhelming drive,” stated Syrskiy.

Russian shelling killed 5 folks and wounded 5 others on August 24 within the japanese Ukrainian metropolis of Kostyantynivka, Ukraine’s prosecutor basic stated.

“As a results of this enemy assault 5 residents — three males and two girls — suffered deadly accidents,” the prosecutor stated in a press release.

Ukraine, whose civilian and power infrastructure has been battered by Russian drone strikes for years, has in flip been concentrating on in latest months oil and gasoline amenities inside Russia that work for the army.

In the newest strike, Ukrainian drones early on August 24 set an ammunition depot on fireplace within the Ostrogozhsk district of Russia’s Voronezh area.

Regional Governor Aleksandr Gusev stated on Telegram that the fireplace was began by falling drone particles and brought about ammunition to blow up. He stated there have been no casualties.

Ostrogozhsk additionally homes a coaching middle for armored car operators.

The Belgorod area was additionally attacked by drones at evening, Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov reported, including that two folks had been wounded.

Russia’s Defense Ministry stated 5 drones had been downed over Voronezh and one every over the Belgorod and Bryansk areas.

RFE/RL’s Ukrainian Service correspondent Roman Pahulych contributed to this report.