In swap effort, part of Mariupol defenders released from Russian captivity.

A number of Mariupol defenders returned to the government-controlled territory, having been released from Russian captivity as a result of prisoner exchange.

This was reported by InformNapalm and a number of Mariupol Telegram channels. No official reports have been released in this regard so far.

In particular, among those freed is the head of the Mariupol patrol police, Mykhailo Vershynin. Mariupol Mayor Petro Andriushchenko broke the news to zn.ua, commenting on his release.

Vershynin had been in captivity since May of this year. He was detained together with other Mariupol defenders, who had been blocked on the territory of the Azovstal steelworks, Ukraine’s last stronghold in the area at the time.

It has also been confirmed that a combat medic, Azovstal defender Kateryna “Ptashka” Polishchuk was released as part of the effort.

No details have been announced yet. It is only known that the exchange of prisoners took place today. Foreign citizens were also released during the swap. There is no exact information on the number of Ukrainians released from Russian captivity.

As Ukrinform reported earlier, an official representative of Saudi Arabia announced on Wednesday that an agreement had been reached with the Russian Federation in negotiations on the release of foreign citizens from Russian captivity. This made it possible to return ten prisoners of war captured during hostilities in Ukraine: citizens of the USA, Great Britain, Sweden, Croatia, and Morocco.