During today’s prisoner exchange, a Ukrainian soldier who had been in Russian captivity for almost nine years — since 2017 — was returned home.

This was reported by the publication “Army Inform”, Censor.NET reports .

(Video transcript)

The video, released by the publication “Army Inform”, shows the moment of the first comment of the liberated Ukrainian prisoner of war immediately after the exchange on August 19. The man stands against the background of a military bus and a forest landscape, wrapped in a blue-and-yellow flag over camouflage clothing. The frame shows a brief conversation with a journalist who asks the fighter clarifying questions about the duration of his captivity.

When asked if he had been in captivity since 2022, the fighter corrects: “No, I haven’t been since 2022, I’ve been [in captivity] since 2017.” This means the man had been in captivity for almost nine years — long before the full-scale Russian invasion began.

The soldier also briefly describes his emotional state in the first minutes after his release.

Words of a liberated fighter

A Ukrainian, wrapped in a blue-and-yellow flag, shared his first impressions of returning home.

” It’s like a dream. I can’t even believe I’m home ,” the fighter said.

He clarified to reporters that he had been in captivity since 2017, and not since the start of the full-scale invasion in 2022. The soldier also admitted that he could not hold back his emotions when he met his comrades.

” I shed a tear when they arrived ,” he said. Джерело: https://censor.net/ua/v4019227

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