Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Saturday brought home five former commanders of the country's garrison in Mariupol from Turkiye under the prisoner exchange deal brokered by Ankara, reported Reuters. Zelenskyy tweeted his photo with the commanders on a plane and captioned it ‘Home’ along with a Ukrainian flag icon. Soon after the news came, Russia denounced the release and said that Turkiye violated the terms of the prisoner swap deal. Moscow said Ankara had promised to keep the men in their territory, adding that they were not informed of this development, as reported by Reuters.
Zelenskyy also posted a video of the commanders and expressed pride over the war Ukraine has been fighting.
“500 days of full-scale war. During this time, thousands and thousands of our people showed the strength, glory and courage of the Ukrainian people in battles for the sake of our state. Almost 50,000 of our people have been awarded state awards. 298 Ukrainian men and women were awarded the highest title - Hero of Ukraine. I am proud of everyone, grateful to each and every one of them. We remember our heroes. We cannot name all the names now. We will be able to tell about some heroes only after our victory, so special is their bravery,” he said in the tweet.
The president further added, “But Ukraine will always be grateful to all of them. And please respect our heroes! And tell your children, your friends, the whole world about them. Glory to all who fight for Ukraine!”
Notably, Reuters mentioned, in honour of the 500th day of the war, Zelenskyy also visited Snake Island, a Black Sea outcrop which Russian forces seized on the day of the invasion and later abandoned.
The five commanders have been lionised in Ukraine after they led a fierce three-month defence of Mariupol from the Azovstal steel plant last year, the biggest city Russia has captured.
"We are returning home from Turkey and bringing our heroes home," said Zelenskiy, who met Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan for talks in Istanbul on Friday.
Reuters stated in reported that Russia freed some of them in September in a prisoner swap brokered by Ankara, under terms that required the commanders to remain in Turkiye until the end of the war.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Russia's RIA news agency: "No one informed us about this. According to the agreements, these ringleaders were to remain on the territory of Turkiye until the end of the conflict," as quoted by Reuters.
He added that the release was a result of heavy pressure from Turkiye's NATO allies ahead of next week's summit of the military alliance at which Ukraine hopes to receive a positive sign about its future membership.
Meanwhile, Zelenskyy gave no explanation for why the commanders were allowed to return home now, nor there has been any response from Turkiye yet. However, in a ceremony later alongside the men in the western city of Lviv, Zelenskiy thanked Erdogan for helping secure their release and pledged to bring home all remaining prisoners.
“Ukrainian soldiers Denys Prokopenko, Svyatoslav Palamar, Serhiy Volynsky, Oleh Khomenko, Denys Shleha. They will finally be with their relatives,” he said on the Telegram messaging app, mentioned The Guardian in a report.