‘Mum, don’t cry. I’ll be home soon’: Ukrainian journalist freed after 3 years in Russian captivity 

Khilyuk and his father Vasyl were detained by Russian troops in 2022 while trying to collect supplies in their home village of Kozarovychi, north of Kyiv. Vasyl was released after a few days, but Dmytro disappeared. Moscow denied holding him for years, despite accounts from other prisoners placing him in Russian detention.

CNN reported that Khilyuk’s parents only received one short note from him during his captivity. In April 2022, he wrote: “I am alive and well.” The family did not receive the message until August of that year. His lawyer said he was never charged or convicted of any crime.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy confirmed the release and published photos of Khilyuk and others on X. The group included former Kherson mayor Volodymyr Mykolayenko, another journalist Mark Kaliush, and medic Serhiy Kovalyov, who treated the wounded during the siege of Mariupol’s Azovstal plant.

Today, our people are coming home. Warriors of the Armed Forces, the National Guard, the State Border Guard Service, and civilians. Most of them had been in captivity since 2022.

We are bringing home journalist Dmytro Khyliuk, who was abducted in the Kyiv region in March 2022.… pic.twitter.com/HMhmJwGMtR

— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) August 24, 2025

Mykolayenko told Ukrainian officials after his release: “I have seen nothing but bars and concrete in recent years. Today is my second birthday. It is a wonderful coincidence that my mother’s birthday is tomorrow. She is 91 … I did not know if I would find her alive and well.”

Ukraine’s Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of POWs said all eight civilians released on Sunday had spent more than three years in captivity. The exchange also included Ukrainian soldiers.

The Russian Defence Ministry said 146 Russian servicemen and eight Russian civilians were returned from Ukraine in exchange for 146 Ukrainian prisoners of war. Kyiv has not commented on the claim that Russian civilians were included.

According to Ukraine’s Institute of Mass Information, about 30 Ukrainian journalists remain in Russian detention, most without charges. Kyiv estimates that at least 16,000 Ukrainian civilians are being held in Russia, though the true number is thought to be higher.

Under international law, the detention of civilians by occupying powers is prohibited except in rare cases and only for limited periods.