Two Ukrainian Greek Catholic priests among 10 prisoners released by Russia after Vatican mediation

Ten Ukrainian civilians held prisoner for years by Russia arrived in Kyiv overnight Saturday after the mediation of the Vatican, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.

They were freed Friday. Some had been captured years before Russia's full-scale invasion . The pope has said the Holy See has been involved in past prisoner swaps during the Ukraine war.

Among those freed was Nariman Dzhelyal, deputy head of the Mejlis, a representative body of Crimean Tatars that was relocated to Kyiv after Russia seized the peninsula in 2014. He was taken from Crimea, where he lived despite the annexation, one year before the war.

The chief of Mejlis, Refat Chubarov, and Crimean Tatar leader Mustafa Dzhemilev embraced him after nearly three years of captivity.

Dzhelyal said many Ukrainians remain in captivity: "We cannot leave them there because the conditions, both...