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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 house at the moment. They are warriors from the National Guard, the Armed Forces, the Navy, and the State Border Guard Service,” Zelenskiy mentioned in a message on X.

“We bear in mind everybody. We are looking for them and making each effort to deliver all of them again,” he mentioned.

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

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

According to a Ukrainian governmental physique that oversees the remedy of prisoners of struggle, 82 of the freed Ukrainian troopers had fought in Mariupol.

“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 vehicles,” Ihor mentioned. “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 aircraft. The aircraft 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, mentioned he served in the identical National Guard unit.

“I stored dreaming about it on a regular basis in captivity — that I’ll be again on August 24,” mentioned Andriy, who struggled to reply in Ukrainian as a result of he had turn out to be accustomed to talking Russian whereas in captivity. “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, mentioned in his put up on X that “I’m grateful to every unit that replenishes our alternate fund.”

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

Separately, Russia’s Defense Ministry mentioned it acquired 115 of its personal troops, who had been captured within the Kursk area, in alternate for a similar variety of Ukrainian struggle prisoners.

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

Zelenskiy additionally highlighted the heroic resistance of his individuals 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 struggle.

“Independence is in each considered one of us. And united, we will 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 all the things is determined by us,” he mentioned.

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

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 below its management — is supposed to determine a buffer zone that can 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 will not be aimed toward gaining territory, not like Russia’s full-scale invasion that began on February 24, 2022, precisely 2 1/2 years in the past.

“There have to be a powerful border between us and the enemy, and no partitions between Ukrainians, as a result of Ukraine is in each considered one of us,” Zelenskiy mentioned 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 out to be a buffer federation,” he mentioned. “This is how independence responds.”

Zelenskiy additionally not directly warned Russian President Vladimir Putin that his struggle 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 observe, 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 palms. Some of them shared their ideas in regards to the that means of independence with RFE/RL’s Ukrainian Service.

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

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

“Freedom is when you’ll be able to breathe freely with no whip above you,” Vitaliy, a soldier with the 93rd Mechanized Brigade, informed RFE/RL.

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

“For me, independence is about saving our nation and never letting the struggle cross on to our youngsters,” mentioned Roman, an officer from the a hundredth Mechanized Brigade.

General Oleksandr Syrskiy, who was promoted from colonel common to common on August 24, highlighted the sacrifices of Ukrainian troopers in defending the nation’s independence in a put up on Telegram.

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

Russian shelling killed 5 individuals and wounded 5 others on August 24 within the japanese Ukrainian metropolis of Kostyantynivka, Ukraine’s prosecutor common mentioned.

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

Ukraine, whose civilian and vitality infrastructure has been battered by Russian drone strikes for years, has in flip been focusing on in latest months oil and gasoline services inside Russia that work for the navy.

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

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

Ostrogozhsk additionally homes a coaching heart for armored car operators.

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

Russia’s Defense Ministry mentioned 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.