POWs freed as Ukraine marks Easter
Despite gesture and the holiday, fighting flares
KYIV — More than 100 Ukrainian prisoners of war have been released as part of a major Easter exchange with Russia, a top official said Sunday, as Orthodox Ukrainians marked the holiday for a second time since Moscow unleashed its full-scale war more than a year ago.
While celebrations were subdued because of security risks, with a curfew barring the faithful from customary all-night services, Ukrainian authorities and ordinary people shared messages of hope, linking the story of Jesus’s resurrection to their longing for peace and a Ukrainian victory.
Dozens of families had special reasons to rejoice, as presidential adviser Andriy Yermak revealed that 130 soldiers, sailors, border guards, and others captured by Moscow were on their way home following a “big Easter prisoner exchange.”
Yermak said in a Telegram post on Sunday that those released included troops who fought near Bakhmut, the eastern mining city which has for months been the focus of Russia’s grinding offensive.
“The lives of our people are the highest value for us,” Yermak said, adding that Kyiv’s goal was to bring back all remaining POWs.
There was no immediate information on how many Russian prisoners were released, but the press service of the founder of the Wagner Group, the Kremlin-affiliated paramilitary force whose fighters are prominent in eastern Ukraine, released a video Sunday showing Ukrainian prisoners of war being readied for an exchange.
In his Easter address released on Sunday morning, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky described the holiday as marking “the victory of good, the victory of truth, the victory of life,” and he stressed what he said was Ukrainian unity in the face of Russian aggression.
“Belief in victory unites all of us always, and especially today. At Easter, which from time immemorial has been a family holiday for Ukrainians, a day of warmth, hope and great unity. We are one big family — Ukrainians. We have one big home — Ukraine. We have one big goal — victory for all,” Zelensky said.
Russians also observed Easter, including President Vladimir Putin. He attended midnight services in Moscow's Christ the Savior Cathedral.
Despite the shared Orthodox holiday, Russian shelling and missile attacks continued to sow destruction in Ukraine, according to Ukrainian regional officials. Officials in the country's south and east said that churches had not been spared. The governor of the eastern Dnipropetrovsk region, Serhii Lysak, said Russian forces stationed at Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant shelled a church in a nearby town, wounding two civilians. “The Russians have once again confirmed that they hold nothing sacred,” Lysak said in his post.
In Brussels, the European Union has criticized bans by Poland and Hungary on imports of Ukrainian grain and other foods over the weekend, saying the unilateral moves were “unacceptable.”
The bloc, of which Poland and Hungary are member states, lifted tariffs on Ukrainian grain last year to help transport it to the rest of the world amid Russia’s invasion, but the exports have led to a glut of produce in Europe. As a result, farmers in Poland, Hungary, and other nations have seen their incomes plummet. Hungary’s agriculture minister said on Saturday that “in the absence of meaningful EU measures,” his country would follow Poland in restricting Ukrainian grain imports until the end of June, according to Hungarian reports.
A spokesperson for the European Commission, the European Union’s executive arm, said in an e-mail on Sunday that such a trade policy was a matter of “EU exclusive competence,” meaning that only the bloc could adopt legally binding decisions. “Unilateral actions are not acceptable,” the statement said.