SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
Ukraine and Russia are in the process of the largest prisoner exchange since Russia's full-scale invasion more than three years ago. The exchange comes out of talks in Istanbul last week between the two countries. Officials call it a confidence-building measure, but fighting continues even as prisoners are being released. NPR's Joanna Kakissis is in northern Ukraine now to witness the Ukrainian soldiers being freed over the next couple of days. Joanna, thanks for being with us.
JOANNA KAKISSIS, BYLINE: Thanks for having me, Scott.
SIMON: And please just describe the scene for us.
KAKISSIS: So, Scott, it was a really emotional experience, and what we saw really showed the human cost of Russia's war on Ukraine. I can't really describe much about the location of the exchange because Ukrainian authorities asked journalists not to disclose it for security reasons. But picture this leafy courtyard filled with dozens of families, the relatives of soldiers who are in captivity, all holding up banners or posters with images of their loved ones.
(CROSSTALK)
KAKISSIS: Now, Scott, these families don't know if they would see their loved ones today, but nearly all of them were women - wives, mothers, daughters - and they were just waiting for the buses carrying the freed prisoners of war to see if their own people were among them.
SIMON: And, Joanna, what did these families tell you?
KAKISSIS: Every story was one of pain and longing. Many of these soldiers have been missing for two or three years. Their families don't have any news of them. I can't stop thinking about this young woman named Milena Moroz. She's 18 years old, slight, with these big glasses. And she was holding a photo of her dad, Yevhen. He's been missing since February of this year.
MILENA MOROZ: (Speaking Ukrainian).
KAKISSIS: She told me her parents are divorced and that she felt bad that it was always her dad calling her from the frontline. She now wishes she had called him, too, if only to say one thing out loud.
MOROZ: (Speaking Ukrainian, crying).
KAKISSIS: She started crying and said, "I want to tell him, I love you, Dad."
SIMON: Well, bless them all, Joanna. These exchanges have happened before, but this one has some special significance, doesn't it?
KAKISSIS: Yeah. This is the 65th prisoner exchange since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, but it's the biggest one. It's happening over three days to accommodate a thousand Ukrainians. And this exchange came out of the talks in Istanbul between Ukrainian and Russian representatives. It's the only breakthrough from these talks. It's the one area where Russia and Ukraine can cooperate. However, there are still thousands of Ukrainian prisoners of war in Russia. Many are civilians. Some of these were freed already in the first day of this exchange. Most of the families we met here, though, were waiting for soldiers.
SIMON: And, Joanna, what happened when the buses with freed Ukrainians finally showed up?
KAKISSIS: It was an incredible moment, a rare moment of joy for Ukraine. You know, you see 390 newly freed Ukrainians coming home off these buses.
(CROSSTALK)
KAKISSIS: When the buses arrived, the doors opened, and the crowd of families just rushed to greet the soldiers. The men waved as they emerged. And, you know, we saw them. Their heads are shaved. Their emaciated bodies were draped in blue and yellow Ukrainian flags. They'd suffered in captivity. The freed soldiers scanned the crowd for their families. Ivan Mosych told us he was nervous.
IVAN MOSYCH: (Speaking Ukrainian).
KAKISSIS: He said he worried what his family would think of him, that maybe they had forgotten him after so much time apart.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: (Speaking Ukrainian).
KAKISSIS: And his wife said, "Honey, don't ever think that." And then she and her two daughters just rushed to encircle him in this group hug, and they wiped away his happy tears and theirs, too.
SIMON: NPR's Joanna Kakissis in northern Ukraine. Thank you so much.
KAKISSIS: You're welcome. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.
