Odesa Rally Demands Action for POWs and Missing Servicemen

Today, the center of Odesa once again became a meeting place for people waiting for their relatives to return from captivity, who held photos of their relatives in captivity with the Russians and called on society and the authorities to act.

The main goal of the action is to remind that enemy captivity should not become the norm, and the rescue of defenders should be among the state's priorities, Novosti .LIVE reported.

The participants of the action call on all concerned to join them every Sunday and remind the authorities that exchanges should take place more often. They believe that their relatives will return home, but this requires constant public pressure.

Earlier on February 2, relatives and friends of the military who were captured or went missing organized a traditional reminder rally in the center of Odesa.

A peaceful rally in support of prisoners of war and missing servicemen was held in Odesa on January 26 with 60 people participating. The participants of the action walked through the central streets of the city, chanting slogans about captivity and missing persons. During the march, the column was accompanied by representatives of the Dialogue Police. On European Square, the convoy stopped to observe a minute of silence in memory of those who died defending Ukraine and to lay flowers to their portraits.

Earlier on Wednesday, January 15, 25 citizens, including military personnel and civilians, returned to Ukraine during another exchange with Russia. According to him, the released people include defenders of Mariupol and Azovstal, as well as Kharkiv, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions. Many of them have serious injuries or serious illnesses.

On New Year's Eve, 189 Ukrainians returned from captivity. In total, 3,956 people have returned from Russian captivity as part of the work of the Coordination Center, including 1,358 prisoners released in 2024. This was the eleventh exchange in 2024.

Later it became known that nine marines from two Mykolaiv units had returned from enemy captivity. Among them are soldiers who were captured while defending Mariupol. Also, 7 soldiers from Kherson region were released from captivity.

Earlier, Ukraine returned 95 soldiers from Russian captivity. The peculiarity of this exchange is that many Ukrainians are returning home who received so-called "sentences" from the aggressor country's judicial system and were "convicted": 28 to long sentences, and 20 to life imprisonment for defending their own land from the aggressor. Among the released prisoners was journalist, human rights activist, co-founder of Hromadske Radio and the Zmina Human Rights Center Maksym Butkevych.

Кирило Бойко