10 Ukrainian POWs thought missing freed, Zelensky says

Ten Ukrainian prisoners of war who had been considered missing in action have been released in a prisoner exchange, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Monday.

Zelensky said the men were brought back through Belarus. He said they were servicemen from Ukraine's Armed Forces and National Guard who had defended the Donetsk sector.

“All of them had been considered missing in action,” Zelensky said in a post on X. He did not give further details and did not mention Russia in the statement.

Russia did not immediately say whether Kyiv had returned soldiers in the exchange.

Ukraine and Russia have swapped thousands of prisoners of war since Moscow invaded in February 2022. Tens of thousands of Ukrainian soldiers and civilians are officially designated as missing, neither confirmed killed nor captured, while both sides are thought to hold thousands more in captivity.