Odesa Rally Remembers POWs as 1,358 Return from Russian Captivity

Relatives of prisoners of war, missing persons and Odessans came to Deribasovskaya Street to hold a traditional reminder rally.

As usual, several dozen people came to the rally, according to Novosti .LIVE.

People were holding posters with photos of prisoners and inscriptions: "Bring back our heroes," "Freedom to the defenders," "Ukraine needs you," "Shout about the prisoners and support them."

Even servicemen on short-term leave come to the rally. Among those present at the rally on March 2, for example, was a soldier from the 42nd Separate Mechanized Brigade. He came to the city for rehabilitation.

On February 21, the center of Odesa again became a meeting place for people waiting for their relatives to be released from captivity, who held photos of their relatives in captivity with the Russians and called on society and the authorities to act.

On January 15, during another exchange with Russia, 25 citizens returned to Ukraine, including military personnel and civilians. 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