For the past two years, Mariana Czecheliuk has been kept under lock and key in Russian ‘filtration camps’, never knowing when she would ever see her loved ones again.
Moved between detention centers in Donetsk, Yelenovka, Taganrog, Kamyshin and Mariupol, the 24-year-old Ukrainian National Police detective endured brutal physical and mental torture at the hands of her captors.
They starved her and severely beat her for two years after she was taken with her sister, who was fortunately released by her captors, while hiding from Russian bombs in the walls of the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol.
She suffered from a litany of health problems, including kidney failure, spinal problems and chronic bronchitis. Her hair also started falling out and she stopped getting her periods.
In August 2022, human rights activists expressed concern about her fate in Russian hands.
Russian forces also tried to get her to defect, her mother Nataliia Checheliuk told news channel ZMINA in January 2024: “They tried to lure my daughter to the Russian side with both sweet promises of a high salary and intimidation. But she refused.’
For the past two years, Mariana Czecheliuk has been kept under lock and key in Russian ‘filtration camps’
Mariana was one of 75 people returned to Ukraine on Friday as part of an agreed prisoner swap with Russia
During her two years in captivity, she was allowed to speak to her family only once and sent only a handful of letters describing her deteriorating health.
But on Friday, Mariana was one of 75 people sent back to Ukraine as part of an agreed prisoner swap with Russia.
The returnees were seen singing a patriotic song led by former prisoner of war Konstantin Mirgorodsky as they were driven to their families after their release from detention in Russia.
Upon arrival, they whooped and cheered as they joined their loved ones in Ukraine.
Some knelt and kissed the ground, while many wrapped themselves in yellow-blue flags.
They hugged each other and burst into tears. Many appeared emaciated and poorly dressed.
24-year-old Ukrainian National Police detective suffered brutal physical and mental torture at the hands of her captors
During her two years in captivity, she was allowed to speak to her family only once and sent only a handful of letters describing her deteriorating health.
Ukraine returned 75 prisoners, including four civilians, in the latest prisoner of war exchange with Russia
This is only the fourth prisoner swap between Ukraine and Russia since the invasion began in February 2022
Many cried tears of joy as they returned to Ukraine
The same number of Russians, 75, were also sent home in an exchange mediated by the United Arab Emirates.
It was the first prisoner of war exchange since February, and only the fourth prisoner exchange this year and the 52nd since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022. A total of 150 prisoners of war were involved and the United Arab Emirates helped negotiate the latter exchange, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Kiev said.
The two sides have traded blame for what they say was a delay in swap transactions.
Ukraine has in the past urged Russia to trade “all for all” and rallies are taking place across Ukraine every week calling for the release of prisoners of war.
A Ukrainian official at the headquarters coordinating the exchanges, Vitalii Matviienko, said that “Ukraine is always ready.”
Tatyana Moskalkova, Russia’s human rights ombudsman, said earlier this week that Kiev was making “new artificial demands,” without elaborating.
Despite the exchange, almost 2,000 Ukrainian prisoners of war are still in Russian hands.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Friday: ‘All this time we have not stopped working for a single day to bring everyone home from Russian captivity.
‘We commemorate every person.
‘We are doing everything we can to find all our people. I am grateful to the team responsible for the exchange.”