"We are bringing Ukrainians back home to Ukraine," said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on X. "A new exchange, 84 people, both military personnel and civilians. Almost all of them require medical care and significant rehabilitation."
Some of the prisoners returned to Ukraine were those captured before the war broke out in 2022. One of which, a resident of the Donetsk region, had been detained for nearly 11 years, since 2014, the Kyiv Post reported.
The military personnel that were freed were defenders of Mariupol, some in the Ukrainian navy and members of the state Border Guard Service.
Vitalii Atamanchuk, 74, was the oldest person in the swap. He was arrested by Russia in 2018 in Donetsk. At the time, his wife and son were taken with him but were later released, the Kyiv Independent reported.
The swap started on Friday and will continue on Saturday and Sunday, with Kyiv and Moscow expected to swap 2,000 people -- 1,000 from each side, CNN reported.
It was the only significant outcome of a meeting in Istanbul last week. It was the first time the two sides had met in person since the invasion.
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