Thursday 22 September 2022 10:38 AM Smiles of Ukrainian heroes of Mariupol as they're traded to freedom trends now
Smiling, waving, and flashing peace signs for the cameras: This was the emotional moment Ukraine's hero defenders of Mariupol were freed last night in a shock prisoner swap with Russia.
Their survival defies all the odds. Having lasted almost three months under a Russian siege, wildly outmanned and outgunned, they were last seen being bussed off to prisons likened to concentration camps.
Many doubted they would be seen alive again. Russian hardliners, who view Azov as the worst of the worst - Nazis and war criminals - had been calling for their execution.
But last night, they were confirmed safe. Among them Azov commander Denis Prokopenko, his deputy Svyatoslav Palamar, and Marine commander Serhiy Volynsky,
Also pictured was Kateryna 'Birdie' Polishchuk, a medic whose singing inside the Azovstal steelworks inspired a nation, and Mykhailo Dianov, last seen with a shattered arm that became symbolic of the horrors inside the plant.
Andriy Yermak, a top adviser to President Zelensky, said more than one of the fighters was heavily pregnant. Olena Zelenska, the First Lady, declared it was 'the day all of Ukraine was waiting for'.
Mykhailo Dianov, one of the hero defenders of Mariupol, was dramatically freed last night in a surprise prisoner swap with Russia along with 205 other Ukrainians
Sviatoslav Palamar, one of the officers of the Azov battalion who was last seen inside the Azovstal steel plant, smiles after being released from Russian captivity late last night
Ukraine said 205 of its citizens - including 100 from the Azov battalion - were among those traded for just 56 Russians, including Putin ally Viktor Medvedchuk
There were smiles all around as members of the Azov battalion were released, with many fearing they would never be seen again after surrendering in the city of Mariupol back in May
A member of the Ukrainian armed forces embraces one of the newly-freed prisoners last night, after Russia announced a surprise swap for members of its own armed forces
In total, Russia agreed to give up 215 Ukrainian prisoners - the five Azov commanders, 10 foreign prisoners including Britons Shaun Pinner and Aiden Aslin, and 200 others - in return for just 56 of their own.
Among the Russians released is Viktor Medvedchuk, Putin's right-hand man in Ukraine, with President Zelensky saying he was exchanged for 200 Ukrainians.
Zelensky said price was one worth paying, and that Medvedchuk had already provided spies with a lot of information.
But - amid fury in Russia about trading away the Azov defenders - speculation surfaced that Medvedchuk was not the main point of the swap.
Some - including security expert Michael Weiss - speculated that Russians captured during
