On Sunday, January 8, 50 Ukrainian defenders were brought home.

These are military personnel who were captured at the Chernobyl NPP, Mariupol and Donetsk region.

In total, since the beginning of the war, 1,646 people - military and civilian - have been freed.

Bohdan Okhrimenko, a representative of the Coordinating Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War, said this on the air of the telethon.

"This is the first exchange of our guys this year. We have returned 50 of our soldiers. This is the 36th exchange since the beginning of the full-scale war between Russia and Ukraine. Thanks to the work of our Coordination Headquarters on the treatment of prisoners of war, we have already managed to return 1,646 people from captivity. Among the released 50 soldiers include 11 representatives of the National Guard of Ukraine, who guarded the facility and were captured on the first day of the war. Among the released are 8 defenders of Mariupol, 9 defenders of Kyiv region, prisoners from the Donetsk, Kharkiv, Luhansk directions, Chernihiv region and Kherson region. The oldest freed person is 54 years old , the youngest is 19," said Bohdan Okhrimenko, a representative of the Coordinating Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War.

The SBU also published a video of Ukrainian defenders returning from Russian captivity. 

We will remind, among those who managed to be returned from Russian captivity on January 8, there are guys from the Armed Forces of Ukraine, TrO, NSU, DPSU, Navy, as well as from SSO.

33 officers and 17 privates and sergeants.

from Russian captivity 

.

These are the defenders of Mariupol, Zmiiny Island, TRo volunteers from Slavutych and fighters from the Bakhmut direction.

Read also:

• A new weapon for the Armed Forces of the West: the expert named the important characteristics

• The American politician explained that Ukraine needs the Armed Forces to go on the offensive along the entire front line

• "Bakhmut and Soledar - under the control of the Armed Forces": a Ukrainian military officer recorded a video from a combat position