AMVROSIIVKA, Ukraine, Nov 6 (Portal) – Fighters belonging to the Russian-installed administration of Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region arrived in the town of Amvrosiivka on Sunday after being freed in a prisoner exchange with the Ukrainian military.
“I still can’t believe I’m home,” returning prisoner of war (POW) Maxim Chekanov told Portal.
“It was so terrible, I don’t wish it on anyone,” added Chekanov, who said he was captured by Ukrainian forces on October 11.
The militants were freed during a prisoner exchange on November 3, with each side of the eight-month-old conflict releasing 107 prisoners.
Prisoner exchanges occurred regularly during the conflict, with both military personnel and high-ranking politicians being released.
[1/4] Denis Pushilin, the Russian-installed leader in Ukraine’s Donetsk region, attends a meeting with soldiers from the Russian-controlled parts of Donetsk and Luhansk regions who were recently released in prisoner exchanges amid the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, and their families in the town of Amvrosiivka (Amvrosievka), Donetsk region, Russian-controlled Ukraine, November 6, 2022. Portal/Alexander Ermochenko
In Amvrosiivka, a town of 18,000 near the internationally recognized border with Russia, Denis Pushilin, head of the region’s Russian-installed administration, welcomed the returning fighters.
Some of the men wept as they were reunited with tearful family members.
One woman, Lyudmila, said her returning son, Yevgeny, has lost a lot of weight since she last saw him. He walked slowly beside her, leaning on a walking stick.
“I didn’t recognize him,” she tearfully said as they sat next to each other and asked not to give their full names.
“Everything will be fine, sweetheart,” she said to Yevgeny, who pressed a handkerchief to his face.
Reporting by Portal Editor by Helen Popper
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