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Ukraine and Russia have carried out their biggest prisoner exchange since the start of the war. One hundred and forty-four soldiers have been swapped from each side. They include 95 who were captured defending the Azovstal steelworks in the devastated southern port of Mariupol, besieged and bombarded by the Russian military for weeks.聽Many of those swapped are said to have serious injuries and are now receiving medical care.

Natalya Zarytska's husband Bogdan was a soldier in the Ukrainian military's Azov regiment and among the hundreds who surrendered to Russia in the middle of last month when the steelworks was captured. He is not included in the swap.

Natalya says she last heard from him on May 17th, when he said he was being taken to a prison in the Donetsk region in east Ukraine. She is sorry he has not been released but at the same time relieved as it may mean he is not seriously injured like many in the swap. She says conditions in the Azovstal steel plant were a "real hell" and that her husband witnessed the use of cluster bombs and an attack that left 70 people burnt to death.

The couple married on the messaging app Telegram while he was defending the plant and she was at home.

Photo: A man with a white flag walks along the road during an exchange of prisoners, at a location given as Zaporizhzhia region. June 29 2022 Credit: Reuters

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