KIEV (Portal) – Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy returned from a visit to Turkey on Saturday, bringing home five former commanders of Ukraine’s Mariupol garrison, despite a prisoner exchange last year that left the men in Turkey should.
Russia immediately condemned the release of the men. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Turkey violated prisoner exchange regulations and failed to notify Moscow.
The commanders, who are hailed as heroes in Ukraine, last year led the defense of the port, the largest city Russia captured in its invasion.
Thousands of civilians were killed in Mariupol as Russian forces devastated the city during a three-month siege.
The Ukrainian defenders held out in tunnels and bunkers under the Azovstal Steelworks until finally, in May of last year, Kiev ordered them to surrender.
Moscow released some of them in September as part of a prisoner exchange brokered by Ankara, on the condition that the commanders had to remain in Turkey until the end of the war.
“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.
“Ukrainian soldiers Denys Prokopenko, Svyatoslav Palamar, Serhiy Volynsky, Oleh Khomenko, Denys Shleha. They will finally be with their relatives,” he said on news app Telegram.
Peskov told Russia’s RIA news agency: “Nobody informed us about it. According to the agreements, these ringleaders should remain on the territory of Turkey until the end of the conflict.”
Peskov said the release came as a result of intense pressure from Turkey’s NATO allies ahead of the military alliance’s summit next week, at which Ukraine hopes a positive sign of its future membership.
In his remarks, Zelenskyy gave no explanation as to why the commanders were now allowed to return home. The Turkish Communications Directorate did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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Zelenskiy released a one-minute video in which he and other officers could be seen shaking hands and hugging the smiling commanders before boarding a Czech plane together.
Many Ukrainians welcomed the news on social media.
“Finally! The best news ever. Congratulations to our brothers!” Major Maksym Zhorin, who is currently fighting in eastern Ukraine, said on the news app Telegram.
(Reporting by Olena Harmash, Editing by Peter Graff and Ron Popeski)