Among the numerous news about the loss of our defenders, today the community of Sokal received two pieces of good news at once – Bohdan Kishchuk and Vitaliy Gonevych, who had been in Russian captivity for a long time, returned to their homeland.
Kishchuk B ohdan Bohdanovych is a native of Sokal, born in 1968. He served in the military unit A0998 and was taken prisoner on 7 March 2022, in the first days of the full-scale invasion. He spent three years in enemy custody.
Vitaliy Ruslanovych Gonevych is also a resident of Sokal, born on 23 December 1996. He served in the same military unit and was taken prisoner on 24 March 2024 in the Donetsk region.
The whole community is sincerely happy to see the defenders return home. They will undergo rehabilitation and treatment, but most importantly, they are finally home!
We wish Bohdan and Vitaliy a speedy recovery! We thank them for their courage and defence of our country.
May all Ukrainian families waiting for their loved ones to be released from captivity receive the same good news as soon as possible!
As the Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War noted, 197 of our defenders have been released as a result of the long work.
On the instructions of the President of Ukraine, 175 of our guys were released from captivity in the course of the exchange and 22 – during special events outside the exchange.
Three of those released were under the so-called “investigation”, which can be considered additional torture for both Ukrainian servicemen and their families and friends.
Soldiers of the Armed Forces (149 and 4 from the TRO), the Navy (11), the National Guard (8, including three from Azov), and three border guards are returning home and to their families.
The servicemen defended the city of Mariupol – 31 (including 18 Azovstal defenders), Donetsk region – 74, Luhansk region – 39, Kharkiv region – 8, Kherson region – 5, two each in Mykolaiv, Zaporizhzhia, and Sumy regions, and took part in the fighting in Kursk region.
This time, 166 privates and sergeants and nine officers were rescued from Russian captivity.
We express our gratitude to the United Arab Emirates for their assistance in organising the exchange.
☝Thanks to the hard work of the Coordination Centre, 22 seriously wounded soldiers were also returned outside the exchange: 21 representatives of the Ukrainian Armed Forces and one border guard.
Those returned from captivity have health problems, severe injuries and traumas.
On Ukrainian soil, all those released will receive proper medical care, undergo physical and psychological rehabilitation programmes and be able to reintegrate into society. All those released will also receive one-time financial assistance and their due salaries for the entire period of their captivity.