Captain of a ship from Crimea returns from Russian captivity

During the 67th exchange of prisoners, the legendary commander of a minesweeper, Oleksandr Boichuk, who led the ship out of occupied Crimea in 2014, returned from Russian captivity. He spent more than three years in captivity.

This was reported by the Crimean Tatar Resource Center.

On August 14, during the 67th exchange of prisoners, Ukrainian serviceman Oleksandr Boychuk, a senior midshipman and chief petty officer of the 9th Division of Surface Ships of the Ukrainian Navy, returned from Russian captivity.

Originally from Volyn, he was captured during the defense of Mariupol and spent more than three years there. His release was reported by journalist Bohdan Kutepov, who called Boychuk his friend and emphasized that for the first year after his disappearance he was not even on the list of survivors, but his wife kept waiting.

Oleksandr Boichuk is the legendary commander of the Genichesk minesweeper, who in 2014, during the occupation of Crimea, managed to take the ship out of the control of Russian troops. In March of the same year, he put the ship on alert, and on March 18, together with other Ukrainian ships, he tried to break through from Lake Donuzlav into the open sea, but the exit was already blocked.

It is also known that the soldier participated in a peacekeeping mission in Iraq for eight months.

Soldiers of the Armed Forces and the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine have also returned home, including those who were captured in the first months of the full-scale invasion. Most of the released officers are between the ages of 25 and 49.

At the end of July, the last defender of Zmiinyi Island, State Border Guard Service soldier Vitaliy Hyrenko, who had been in Russian captivity for more than three and a half years since February 2022, returned from captivity. During his detention, his family had no contact with the soldier: his wife was seven months pregnant, and their son saw his father only in photographs, waiting to meet him during this long and difficult time for the family.

Анна Бальчінос