Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, returning home from a visit to Turkey, brought back five leaders from the former Ukrainian battalion in the city of Mariupol who were forced to live in Turkey under the terms of a prisoner exchange last year. The leaders, referred to as heroes in Ukraine, played a key role in the defense efforts last year of the coastal city of Mariupol, which was the largest city seized by Russia during the invasion. Thousands of civilians were killed inside Mariupol as Russian forces turned the city into ruins during a three-month siege. Kyiv ordered the Ukrainian defenders, who had remained holed up in tunnels and shelters beneath a steel plant, to eventually surrender in May of last year. Moscow released some of them in September in a prisoner exchange mediated by Ankara, which obligated these leaders to remain in Turkey until the end of the war.
Zelensky, who met with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Friday in Istanbul for talks, stated, "We will return home from Turkey and bring our heroes back home." He did not clarify why the leaders were allowed to return to their country now. The Turkish communications office has not yet responded to requests for comment.
In the first comment on the release of the soldiers, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said on Saturday that Turkey violated the prisoner exchange agreements by releasing the detained leaders of the military unit that defended the steel plant in Mariupol for weeks. According to Russian news agency reports, Peskov stated that under the terms of the prisoner exchange agreements, the fighters were supposed to remain in Turkey until the end of the war. He added that Turkey had not informed Russia about their release.
