Ukrainian Security Service

Some are injured, most are very young, and all want to return home: the Russian soldiers captured during the surprise Ukrainian attack in Kursk now hope for a prisoner exchange.

Agence France-Presse managed to speak briefly with several of these prisoners of war at their detention site in the Sumy region of northern Ukraine, under the supervision of Ukrainian officers.

The prisoner exchange between Russia and the West, which took place on Thursday in Istanbul, resembled moments from the Cold War, complete with the dramatic setting of an isolated airport area.

From Russia, 16 people were released: four to the U.S. and 12 to Germany, one of whom was Belarusian.

Russian forces have taken control of two front-line villages in eastern Donetsk region following persistent attacks, which are part of the Kremlin's summer offensive aimed at breaking through battlefield defenses, according to a Ukrainian army sergeant, as reported by the Associated Press.

President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, has dismissed the deputy head of the Ukrainian Security Service.

The European Parliament on Thursday strongly condemned a notorious Russian paramilitary body, saying it "condemns in the strongest terms the heinous crimes committed by the Wagner Group and related private military entities".

Until then, Minister Shoygu should be summoned to the main administration of that service for the Donetsk and Luhansk regions in Mariupol for further processing, "Sputnik" reported.
According to the Ukrainian newspaper "Glavkom", the Russian minister is accused of being responsible, among other things, for "the formation of illegal armed formations".

Back in December 2014, Serhiy Shulakov was busy fixing cars in his company's auto-service yard in the eastern Ukrainian town of Popasna when he saw a hand reaching over the fence.

The hand that was trying to unlock the gate belonged to a member of the Ukrainian Security Service, the SBU.

The Ukrainian Security Service, SBU on Monday published a list of 206 individuals who it claimed have been fighting for private military company Wagner in Syria and eastern Ukraine, among them three Moldovan citizens.

The new name revealed among the Moldovan fighters on the list was 47-year-old Serghey Prida from Soroca in north-east Moldova.