Ukraine has secured the return of 185 military personnel and one civilian from Russian captivity, President Volodymyr Zelensky announced on Friday, June 5. According to Zelensky, the group includes servicemen from the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the National Guard and the State Border Guard Service, ranging from enlisted personnel and sergeants to officers.JOIN US ON TELEGRAMFollow our coverage of the war on the @Kyivpost_official. Many of those released participated in the defense of Mariupol and the Azovstal steel plant, while others fought on the Donetsk, Luhansk, Kharkiv, Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, Sumy, Kyiv and Kursk fronts. Some of the returned Ukrainians had been held in Russian captivity since 2022. “Another 185 Ukrainian defenders are returning home from Russian captivity today. Along with the defenders, one civilian is also returning,” Zelensky said. The president thanked the team responsible for organizing prisoner exchanges, Ukraine’s international partners and Ukrainian forces whose battlefield successes have helped expand the pool of Russian prisoners available for exchanges. “Returning our people remains an unwavering priority for Ukraine,” Zelensky said. “We work every day to free every Ukrainian man and woman from captivity.”