On 26 June, Ukraine and Russia conducted another prisoner exchange. As a result, 160 Ukrainian prisoners of war returned home, most of whom had been held in Russian captivity since 2022.
Those released include members of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the State Special Transport Service, the National Guard of Ukraine, and the State Border Guard Service. They defended Mariupol and the Azovstal steel plant and served on the Donetsk, Luhansk, Kharkiv, Zaporizhzhia, Kyiv, Chernihiv, and Sumy fronts.
According to Ukraine's Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War, 115 of those released were defenders of Mariupol. The exchange included soldiers, sergeants, and 58 officers. The youngest released servicemember is 26 years old, while the oldest is 66.
The following day, Ukraine also secured the return of seven civilians who had been unlawfully detained by Russian forces during the occupation in 2022. They include residents of Mariupol and the Kyiv, Kharkiv, Zaporizhzhia, and Luhansk regions.
The return of civilians who were unlawfully deprived of their liberty highlights the ongoing practice of arbitrary detention in temporarily occupied territories. Such actions violate both international humanitarian law and international human rights law, which prohibit arbitrary deprivation of liberty, enforced disappearances, and cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment of civilians.