NEWS FROM UKRAINE: UKRAINIAN POWS RETURN AFTER YEARS OF CAPTIVITY

Over the past month, a series of prisoner swaps have led to the release of more than 100 Ukrainian POWs. The vast majority of the freed Ukranians had been held in captivity since the start of the war, when they were captured while defending key cities such as Mariupol and Kyiv.

But with the return of the soldiers to their homeland also came horrific stories of violence and torture at the hands of the russian invaders. One of the released captives, Yurii Hulchuk, was immediately rushed to a Kyiv hospital upon his return. Completely despondent and unable to eat or speak on his own, it took three days of intensive care treatment before Yurii recognized his own mother’s face.

Yurii was captured more than two and a half years ago, in April 2022, during the siege of Mariupol. In a recent interview with a Ukrainian news outlet, he described the abuse he endured while a captive, including starvation, beatings and being forced to stand for 16 hours a day until ulcers formed on his legs.

Yurii’s story is not unique: He is just one of 3,672 Ukrainians who have been brought back from russian captivity across 57 exchanges since the start of the war. As of January 2024, Ukrainian authorities estimate a total of 8,000 Ukrainians, both military and civilian, are being held captive in Russia.