Tetyana Bugay burst into tears when she called her sister to tell her she was finally back in Ukraine after spending more than two and a half years in Russian captivity.
The 29-year-old medic from Ukraine’s Azov Brigade was captured during the siege of Mariupol, a city in southern Ukraine that was surrounded and razed to the ground by Russian forces.
The siege lasted from February to May 2022, ending with the surrender of more than 2,000 fighters, including Bugay.
“Kitten, I called to let you know I’m here. I’m fine, you turned it off,” she called.
“I’m begging you, please don’t cry, because it makes me very nervous… We’ll be together again soon, I love you very much. Tell everyone I’m home, okay?”
AFP attended the rare meeting at an undisclosed location near the border with Belarus and spoke to some of the 49 Ukrainians, including 23 women, who were released on Friday.
For the first time in over a year, Azov fighters were seen in combat, defending the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol, along with Bugay.
Russia tends to withhold these Azov prisoners because the brigade’s history and role in the siege of Mariupol have made the fighters a bargaining chip for Moscow.
– ‘Back from Hell’ –
“I can’t believe it! I’ve been waiting and praying every day and finally this day has come,” said Tamara Miroshnikova.
“I wish that all our people come back from this hell and that no one ever hears the word ‘prisoner of war’ again,” said the 28-year-old, who said she served as a commander of an Azov armored vehicle before her capture.
She joined other freed Ukrainians who held banners and, amid tears and laughter, sang the Ukrainian national anthem.
The entire group then immediately boarded a bus to a hospital in northern Ukraine for initial checks.
“I spoke to my mother and my children… I waited for this day for two and a half years. I didn’t know how they were, where they were. Today is the happiest day of my life,” said Miroshnikova, on board.
She wrapped herself in a Ukrainian flag and sat next to Bugay, with whom she had bonded during the battle for the Azovstal steel mills.
Soldiers holed up in the steel mill held out for weeks, long after all hope seemed lost. They became a symbol of Ukrainian resistance.
Bugay and Miroshnikova had not been in touch since their capture. They first saw each other a few days ago, on the train that brought them out of Russia.
– Propaganda ‘demonizes’ Azov –
They giggled, hugged and waved to people as the bus passed through Ukrainian villages.
“Our own people welcome us again!” said Bugay.
She was overjoyed and did not want to dwell on her captivity for too long.
She admitted that she had been desperate at times.
“But I said to myself, ‘Come on, just a little bit longer,’ and so, little by little, every day, every holiday, every month, I kept a little bit of hope,” she said.
For Azov prisoners, the prospects of release are generally slim. Their propaganda value makes any exchange difficult.
The Kremlin has accused Azov of “neo-Nazism” for years, which the brigade strongly denies. Moreover, Azov’s soldiers are being prosecuted in show trials in Moscow.
“It is clear that Russian propaganda is demonizing certain units more, putting more effort into blackening them and creating all kinds of falsifications, and this definitely affects the exchange process,” said Andriy Yusov, a representative of the Ukrainian government body coordinating the exchanges.
– ‘No air’ in captivity –
Yusov told AFP that the return of all soldiers was a priority for Ukraine and that officials were already working on the next exchange.
During her captivity, prison authorities repeatedly told Bugay that no one needed her at home or was waiting for her.
So she tried to protect herself.
She wrote a poem that she learned by heart and dedicated it to her sister.
“My dear sister, please forgive me for the time I was a prisoner of war,” she began, softly reciting the long poem into the bus.
“There is no air for us in captivity, we all die in a foreign land. My homeland, I do not want to forget the holy land, my sister, father or my mother. Ukraine, please listen to me, only you can save us.”
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