State Border Guard Service showed touching photos of defenders released from Russian captivity

State Border Guard Service showed touching photos of defenders released from Russian captivity

The day before, June 25, Ukraine returned 90 of its defenders from Russian captivity. Among them are 18 border guards.

For the first time in years of captivity, most of those released were able to hear the voices of their loved ones and breathe in the air deeply. Touching photos taken in the first hours after the exchange were published by the State Border Service of Ukraine.

“The first hours after the exchange. Next: meetings with relatives, rehabilitation and the opportunity to breathe freedom again,” the State Tax Service noted.

In poignant photographs by Petro Zadorozhnyi, Ukrainian defenders are exhausted but happy. Someone is squeezing his brothers in a tight embrace. For some people, for the first time in a long time, they hear the voices of their closest people on the phone. There are quite a few of these Ukrainians who have been captured by Russia who are immediately examined by doctors. And someone cannot hold back tears from the realization: the hell of captivity is already behind.