01:30On Saturday, 103 Russian servicemen who were captured in the Kursk region and were later released as part of a prisoner exchange with Ukraine, arrived at the Chkalovsky airfield near Moscow.
Footage shows servicemen assisting the wounded as they disembark from the plane. They are then seen being transported on buses.
"I'll hug my parents, kiss my mom, [INAUDIBLE], we'll set a festive table and discuss it all. We will forget everything, everything that happened, we will forget it like a terrible dream," a soldier named Denis said.
Another serviceman commented that he had given a lot of thought to life in captivity and now appreciates freedom more.
"You begin to appreciate many things in life after captivity, you understand many things, and your mind changes a lot. Most importantly, you realise that freedom is invaluable," the man shared.
According to the Russian Defence Ministry, the freed servicemen would be rehabilitated and treated in the ministry's medical facilities.
On Saturday, the Russian Defence Ministry said that as a result of the UAE-mediated negotiation process, '103 Russian servicemen captured in the Kursk region were returned from the Kiev-controlled territory'.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky also confirmed the new exchange between Moscow and Kiev, using the '103 for 103' formula. The politician specified that 82 privates and sergeants and 21 officers were among those released.
Ukrainian forces entered the Kursk region on August 6 in an offensive described by Russian President Vladimir Putin as a 'large-scale provocation'. A counter-terrorist operation regime was introduced in the Kursk, Belgorod and Bryansk regions on August 9, while more than 120,000 people have been evacuated from the Kursk border districts.
President Volodymyr Zelensky described the attack as 'purely [a] security issue for Ukraine', with fighting ongoing.
Moscow launched a military offensive in Ukraine in late February 2022 after recognising the independence of the Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics (DPR and LPR), claiming that Kiev had failed to guarantee their special status under the 2014 Minsk Agreements, and urging Ukraine to declare itself officially neutral and give assurances that it would never join NATO.
Kiev denounced the Russian action as an invasion. Zelensky imposed martial law throughout the country, announcing a general mobilisation, while the EU and the US imposed several rounds of sanctions on Moscow.
'Freedom is the most valuable thing a person can have' - 103 servicemen captured in Kursk return to Russia following POW swap deal with Ukraine
On Saturday, 103 Russian servicemen who were captured in the Kursk region and were later released as part of a prisoner exchange with Ukraine, arrived at the Chkalovsky airfield near Moscow.
Footage shows servicemen assisting the wounded as they disembark from the plane. They are then seen being transported on buses.
"I'll hug my parents, kiss my mom, [INAUDIBLE], we'll set a festive table and discuss it all. We will forget everything, everything that happened, we will forget it like a terrible dream," a soldier named Denis said.
Another serviceman commented that he had given a lot of thought to life in captivity and now appreciates freedom more.
"You begin to appreciate many things in life after captivity, you understand many things, and your mind changes a lot. Most importantly, you realise that freedom is invaluable," the man shared.
According to the Russian Defence Ministry, the freed servicemen would be rehabilitated and treated in the ministry's medical facilities.
On Saturday, the Russian Defence Ministry said that as a result of the UAE-mediated negotiation process, '103 Russian servicemen captured in the Kursk region were returned from the Kiev-controlled territory'.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky also confirmed the new exchange between Moscow and Kiev, using the '103 for 103' formula. The politician specified that 82 privates and sergeants and 21 officers were among those released.
Ukrainian forces entered the Kursk region on August 6 in an offensive described by Russian President Vladimir Putin as a 'large-scale provocation'. A counter-terrorist operation regime was introduced in the Kursk, Belgorod and Bryansk regions on August 9, while more than 120,000 people have been evacuated from the Kursk border districts.
President Volodymyr Zelensky described the attack as 'purely [a] security issue for Ukraine', with fighting ongoing.
Moscow launched a military offensive in Ukraine in late February 2022 after recognising the independence of the Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics (DPR and LPR), claiming that Kiev had failed to guarantee their special status under the 2014 Minsk Agreements, and urging Ukraine to declare itself officially neutral and give assurances that it would never join NATO.
Kiev denounced the Russian action as an invasion. Zelensky imposed martial law throughout the country, announcing a general mobilisation, while the EU and the US imposed several rounds of sanctions on Moscow.
On Saturday, 103 Russian servicemen who were captured in the Kursk region and were later released as part of a prisoner exchange with Ukraine, arrived at the Chkalovsky airfield near Moscow.
Footage shows servicemen assisting the wounded as they disembark from the plane. They are then seen being transported on buses.
"I'll hug my parents, kiss my mom, [INAUDIBLE], we'll set a festive table and discuss it all. We will forget everything, everything that happened, we will forget it like a terrible dream," a soldier named Denis said.
Another serviceman commented that he had given a lot of thought to life in captivity and now appreciates freedom more.
"You begin to appreciate many things in life after captivity, you understand many things, and your mind changes a lot. Most importantly, you realise that freedom is invaluable," the man shared.
According to the Russian Defence Ministry, the freed servicemen would be rehabilitated and treated in the ministry's medical facilities.
On Saturday, the Russian Defence Ministry said that as a result of the UAE-mediated negotiation process, '103 Russian servicemen captured in the Kursk region were returned from the Kiev-controlled territory'.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky also confirmed the new exchange between Moscow and Kiev, using the '103 for 103' formula. The politician specified that 82 privates and sergeants and 21 officers were among those released.
Ukrainian forces entered the Kursk region on August 6 in an offensive described by Russian President Vladimir Putin as a 'large-scale provocation'. A counter-terrorist operation regime was introduced in the Kursk, Belgorod and Bryansk regions on August 9, while more than 120,000 people have been evacuated from the Kursk border districts.
President Volodymyr Zelensky described the attack as 'purely [a] security issue for Ukraine', with fighting ongoing.
Moscow launched a military offensive in Ukraine in late February 2022 after recognising the independence of the Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics (DPR and LPR), claiming that Kiev had failed to guarantee their special status under the 2014 Minsk Agreements, and urging Ukraine to declare itself officially neutral and give assurances that it would never join NATO.
Kiev denounced the Russian action as an invasion. Zelensky imposed martial law throughout the country, announcing a general mobilisation, while the EU and the US imposed several rounds of sanctions on Moscow.