October 23, 2026
As Ukraine Frees 270 From Russian Captivity, Russia Still Shows No Interest in Taking Back Its Foreign Recruits
Ukraine brought home 261 servicemen and 9 civilians from Russian captivity on October 23, 2026, the Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War announced. It is the third stage of a combined exchange that began on August 19. Ukraine works hard to get every one of its people back. Russia shows no sign of doing the same for the foreigners it recruited: there is still no word of Russia taking back foreign nationals who ended up in Ukrainian captivity.
Russia and Its Foreign Recruits
The pattern is the same as in June, when 160 defenders were freed and no foreign recruits were returned. According to Ukraine's "I Want to Live" project, 1 in 10 POWs From Russia's Army Are Not Russian Citizens. The project has identified 45,959 foreign nationals who signed contracts with the Russian army.
A day before this exchange, Ukraine handed Russia the body of a Sri Lankan who fought in its army. The project said this was the first sign of Russia taking foreign recruits back, and that so far it was only a dead one. "Of the living there is no talk yet," it said.
Who Came Home
The freed servicemen come from many parts of Ukraine's forces: the Navy, Ground Forces, Air Assault Forces, State Special Transport Service, Territorial Defence, Special Operations Forces and Military Law Enforcement Service, as well as the National Guard and the State Border Guard Service. A State Emergency Service rescuer is among them. They fought on the Donetsk, Luhansk, Kharkiv, Zaporizhzhia, Kherson, Kyiv, Mykolaiv and Chernihiv fronts, and some defended the Chornobyl nuclear power plant. Thirty-eight are officers.
More than half were captured in 2022, many of them during the defence of Mariupol, the Coordination Headquarters said. Five survived what Ukraine calls the terrorist attack at Olenivka, in the barracks known as Barrack 200, and nine are seriously ill. Some were taken prisoner as long ago as 2018 and 2020. A large share were prosecuted by Russia on invented charges, in breach of international law, according to the Coordination Headquarters, and sentenced to prison terms of various lengths, including life.
All of those freed will have medical checks and treatment, and will be given the essentials for their first days at home and the payments they are owed. They will also go through rehabilitation and reintegration after long isolation in Russian captivity.
Thanks to the US and the UAE
The Coordination Headquarters thanked the United States and the United Arab Emirates, and in particular everyone who worked to free Stephen Hubbard, a 74-year-old English teacher from Izium, whom it says Russia illegally convicted and tortured. Hubbard, a US citizen, was reported released by Russia on October 21, according to Al Jazeera. The Coordination Headquarters said it continues to work to find and return every Ukrainian held in Russian captivity.