– Today I not only witnessed an engagement, but the triumph of true love, writes Sergej Valniskij on Facebook. He films the moment when the Ukrainian sanitary soldier Galina Fedishin returns home after being held in Russian captivity since May 2022. Her boyfriend Nikolay Gritsenyak is waiting there with a bouquet of red roses in his sleeve and a special promise in his pocket. He gets down on one knee in front of her excitedly and asks for her hand. She lowers her head and wipes her eyes, then grabs his hand. – This love has survived trials that are capable of breaking the strongest, but it did not break them, continues friend Sergej Valniskij. According to Reuters, the couple must have found each other while they were both serving in the Ukrainian armed forces. 500 prisoners of war released The biggest exchange of prisoners of war since Russia invaded neighboring Ukraine took place on Wednesday. Nearly 500 people were released. 230 of them were Ukrainian, says Kyrylo Budanov in a video message. Budanov is Ukraine’s intelligence chief and heads the coordination for the treatment of prisoners of war. He says that several of them fought on Snake Island in the Black Sea. Others were captured after the battle for the Azovstal ironworks in Mariupol. Among them was Fedishin, who belongs to Ukraine’s 36th Marine Brigade. She has been a prisoner of war since May 2022, when the last Ukrainian soldiers in Azovstal surrendered. Long preparations It is the first exchange of prisoners since August last year, when Russia is said to have stopped the negotiations. – This change has been prepared over a long period, says Budanov. Photos and videos will show the return of the now released Ukrainians. Many of them in the picture look emaciated. Several wear uniforms, others also carry the Ukrainian flag. Photo: UKRAINIAN PRESIDENTIAL PRESS SERVICE / Reuters – I am grateful to everyone who contributed to this result, wrote President Volodymyr Zelenskyy when he announced the news. – We will do everything to return all our people who are currently in Russian captivity. Complex negotiations On Tuesday evening, the Russian Ministry of Defense also announced that they had returned 248 soldiers in return. – On January 3 this year, as a result of a complex negotiation process, 248 Russian military personnel were returned from territory controlled by the Kyiv regime, said the statement, quoted by Tass. The ministry thanked the United Arab Emirates for facilitating the exchange. They stressed that all returned captives receive the necessary psychological and medical help.
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In Mariupol she was taken as a prisoner of war – on Wednesday she was allowed to come home – news Urix – Foreign news and documentaries
