RELEASED Ukrainian troops walk a muddy road to freedom after a prisoner exchange.
Wounded soldiers, sailors and border guards were carried home by comrades yesterday — the second swap in a week.
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The 130-strong group held national flags and embraced friends as they returned to their families at an undisclosed location.
Chief of staff Andriy Yermak, 51, hailed the trade-off on the day millions of Ukrainians celebrate the Orthodox Christian holiday.
He said: “It has been taking place in several stages over the past few days. Our people are coming home.
“The quintessence of Easter is hope.
“This is exactly what the relatives who had been waiting for them for so long felt.
“This task sounds short: bring everyone back. And they will return.”
It was not clear how many Russian prisoners were returned to Moscow.
But the founder of mercenary group Wagner was filmed threatening PoWs before their release, saying: “I hope you don’t fall back into our hands.”
Last week, 106 Russian prisoners were swapped for 100 Ukrainians.
Most were from eastern front lines.
President Volodymyr Zelensky, 45, said his country retained an “unshakeable faith” that it would defeat Putin’s forces.
He added in a TV address: “Heaven sees our faith and firmness. The world sees our courage and indomitability. The enemy sees our strength and determination.”
Russian airstrikes on Saturday night killed at least four civilians and wounded eight others, according to Ukrainian officials.
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Power and the gory
VLADIMIR Putin marked Orthodox Easter at an elaborate service – while Ukrainian priests held blessings in bombed-out churches.
Hundreds packed into Moscow’s Christ the Saviour Cathedral where Putin, 70, stood alongside the city’s mayor Sergei Sobyanin holding a thin red candle.
Putin, a devout Christian, listened to ally and bishop, Patriarch Kirill — who used his address to brazenly call for prayers to “unite our peoples, who were once the one people of united Russia”.
In Lukashivka, eastern Ukraine, worshippers gathered for a brief service as a priest blessed Easter baskets in church ruins.
Thousands of services were cancelled owing to the threat of missile strikes.
