Mariupol Defender Returns Home Following 71st Prisoner Swap
In the 71st prisoner exchange between Ukraine and Russia, Viktor Dmytrenko, a Ukrainian defender from Mariupol, was freed and returned home on February 5. This marked his second period of captivity. His wife, Nataliia, and their five children were waiting for him. Ten defenders with ties to Mariupol were among those repatriated in this swap. In total, 157 Ukrainians were returned, the majority of whom had been held since 2022. These exchanges are a critical, though intermittent, part of the ongoing conflict.
Viktor Dmytrenko first joined the Donbas Battalion in 2014. He fought in battles near Kurakhove, participated in the liberation of Lysychansk, and was later encircled and captured near Ilovaisk. His wife learned of his capture on August 29, 2014. He was initially held in a detention center in Donetsk before being moved to Ilovaisk. Viktor first made contact on November 11, 2014, and finally returned home just before the New Year in 2015, after enduring four months and 26 days in captivity.
Life After the First Captivity
Prior to the war in 2014, Viktor had worked for 14 years as a crane operator at the Illich Steel and Iron Works. In 2015, he signed a contract with the Armed Forces of Ukraine but was discharged in 2020. When the full-scale invasion began on February 24, 2022, Viktor was in Mariupol. His wife Nataliia evacuated the city with four of their children on March 15, 2022. On April 14, she received news that Viktor was alive but had been captured again. He was subsequently held in a detention center in Berdiansk and later in the village of Kamyshin in Russia's Volgograd region.
Among those freed in the 71st exchange was 54-year-old defender Serhii Hryniuk from Volyn, who returned after three years and eight months in captivity. Of the 157 Ukrainians retrieved from Russian captivity, 139 had been imprisoned since 2022. The group included 19 illegally convicted defenders, 15 of whom had received life sentences. The exchange, negotiated by Ukraine, the United States, and Russia, involved 314 prisoners and was the first such swap in five months.
This prisoner exchange represents a significant step amid the protracted war between Ukraine and Russia, which began in 2014, and underscores Ukraine's persistent efforts to repatriate its military personnel. The return of veterans like Viktor Dmytrenko not only brings immense relief to their families but also serves to bolster national morale.