By AFP and Kontur | 2024-09-17

UKRAINE-BELARUS BORDER -- Long-held Ukrainian troops are celebrating their release after a pair of exchanges last week.

Moscow and Kyiv September 14 swapped 103 prisoners of war each in a United Arab Emirates (UAE)-brokered deal.

"Another 103 soldiers were returned to Ukraine from Russian captivity," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Telegram.

Russia confirmed it had "handed over" 103 Ukrainian army prisoners and in return received 103 Russian servicemen.

The exchange on the Ukrainian-Belarusian border came one day after the two sides swapped 49 prisoners each.

The Russians released in the latest swap were captured during Ukraine's recent cross-border incursion into Kursk province, Moscow said, while some of the Ukrainians freed had been held prisoner since Moscow seized the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol in May 2022.

'Tell everyone I'm home'

Tetyana Bugay burst into tears as she called her sister to announce she had finally returned to Ukraine after spending over two and a half years in Russian captivity.

The 29-year-old medic from Ukraine's Azov brigade was captured in Mariupol, a city that Russian troops besieged and razed to the ground.

The siege lasted from February until May 2022 and ended in the surrender of over 2,000 fighters including Bugay.

"I'm begging you, please don't cry, because that will make me very nervous... We will be together soon, I love you very much," she cried. "Tell everyone I'm home, okay?"

AFP attended the rare exchange at an undisclosed location near the Belarusian border and spoke to some of the 49 Ukrainians -- including 23 women -- freed September 13.

Azov fighters who, like Bugay, defended the Azovstal steelworks in Mariupol, featured in the exchange for the first time in over a year.

Russia tends to withhold these Azov prisoners because the history of the brigade, and its role in the siege of Mariupol, turned the fighters into a bargaining chip for Moscow.

'Back from this hell'

"I can't believe it! I waited every day and I prayed and finally this day has come," said Tamara Miroshnikova.

"I wish for all our people to come back from this hell and that no one else will ever hear the word 'war prisoner' ever again," said the 28-year-old, who said she commanded an armored vehicle with Azov before her capture.

She lined up with the other released Ukrainians who held up banners and, between tears and laughter, sang Ukraine's anthem.

The whole group promptly boarded a bus to a hospital in northern Ukraine to receive initial checkups.

"I talked to my mom and my kids ... I did not know how they were, where they were. Today is the happiest day of my life," Miroshnikova said, boarding.

She wrapped herself in a Ukrainian flag and sat next to Bugay, with whom she had bonded during the battle for the Azovstal steelworks.

Soldiers entrenched in the steelworks had held on for weeks, long after hope seemed lost -– and became a symbol of Ukrainian resistance.

Bugay and Miroshnikova had not had any contact since their capture, and saw each other for the first time a few days ago, on a train bringing them out of Russia.

Propaganda 'demonizes' Azov

They were now giggling, hugging each other and waving to bystanders as the bus passed through Ukrainian villages.

"Our own people are welcoming us back!" Bugay said.

She was ecstatic and did not want to dwell on her captivity.

She acknowledged she had despaired at times.

"But I was telling myself: 'Come on, just a bit more' and just like that, little by little, every day, every holiday, every month, I kept some hope," she said.

Prospects of release are usually thin for Azov prisoners.

The Kremlin has for years called Azov "neo-Nazis," which the brigade strongly denies –- and Moscow prosecutes Azov soldiers in show trials.

"It is clear that Russian propaganda demonizes certain units more, spends more effort to slander them, to make various fakes, and this definitely affects the exchange process," said Andriy Yusov, a representative for the Ukrainian agency coordinating exchanges.

'No air' in captivity

The return of all soldiers is a priority for Ukraine and officials are already working on the next exchange, said Yusov.

During her captivity, prison authorities told Bugay over and over that no one needed or waited for her back home.

So she tried to shield herself.

She created a poem that she learned by heart, dedicated to her sister.

"There is no air for us in captivity, we are all dying in a foreign land. My homeland, I do not want to forget the holy land, my sister, father or my mother. Ukraine, please hear me, only you can save us," she recited on the bus.

Russia and Ukraine have swapped hundreds of prisoners throughout the two-and-half-year conflict -- often in deals brokered by the UAE, Saudi Arabia or Türkiye.

Three weeks ago, the two sides exchanged 115 prisoners each in another UAE-mediated deal.