President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy met with Deputy Chairman of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people Nariman Dzhelyal, who was released from Russian captivity the day before.
The Head of State congratulated Nariman Dzhelyal on his return home and noted that he was glad to meet him in person. The President said that he had been following his fate in captivity and had been in touch with his family all this time.
"I received and read your letters. I am very glad that you are back. I know that almost no one believed in it, but I am very happy that we succeeded," Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.
Nariman Dzhelyal spoke about the conditions of his captivity and shared his immediate plans.
"I thank you for such a sincere personal involvement in my fate and the fate of prisoners of war in general – for returning them. This is a great matter. And the fact that it is happening – our guys and girls know about it, and their families see it. For them, it is a great hope, and it inspires them to hold on there. And it takes strength there to hold on," he said.
The Head of State spoke about the efforts the Presidential Office and the Coordination Headquarters make to free all prisoners of war and political prisoners from Russian captivity.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Nariman Dzhelyal also discussed the situation in the temporarily occupied Crimea, including political persecution.
Previously, the President and the Deputy Chairman of the Mejlis met at the International Summit of the Crimean Platform in late August 2021. A few days after Nariman Dzhelyal had returned from the event, the Russian occupiers abducted him in Crimea and sentenced him to 17 years in a maximum–security prison in a fabricated case. Recently, Nariman Dzhelyal and nine other Ukrainian civilians were brought back home.
Ukraine has also managed to free 90 servicemen from Russian captivity, including warriors of the Armed Forces, the Navy, the National Guard, the Territorial Defense Forces, and the Border Guard Service.
A total of 53 exchanges have taken place since the beginning of the full–scale Russian invasion. As a result, 3,310 Ukrainians – military and civilian – have been returned home.