{"id":93241,"date":"2024-06-29T01:27:06","date_gmt":"2024-06-28T22:27:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/93241\/"},"modified":"2026-02-24T20:40:57","modified_gmt":"2026-02-24T20:40:57","slug":"five-ukrainians-handed-over-to-kyiv","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/93241\/","title":{"rendered":"Minsk hands over 5 Ukrainian prisoners to Kyiv"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\n\n \"\"\n
\n \n
\n (pixabay.com)<\/span>\n <\/div>\n <\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

June 29, Pozirk.<\/strong> Five Ukrainian nationals, including Mykola Shve\u0107, arrested after an attack on Russian military plane at the Ma\u010duli\u0161\u010dy military airfield near Minsk, have been handed over to Kyiv.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The chief of staff to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Andrii Yermak, said in a post<\/a> on Telegram that Ukraine managed to return 10 civilians from Russian captivity, including five people captured in Belarus, namely Shve\u0107, Nataliia Zakharenko, Pavlo Kupriienko, Liudmyla Honcharenko and Kateryna Briukhanova.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“They are already at home. It is a great joy,” Yermak said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He noted the Vatican’s role in their release.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Viasna Human Rights Center had mentioned Zakharenko, Kupriienko and Honcharenko among seven Ukrainians convicted of espionage and undercover activity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Zakharenko, 44, is an entrepreneur. In July 2023, the resident of Chernihiv, Ukraine, disappeared on her way to Mazyr, where her sister lived. It turned out that she was arrested. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

She was tried together with \u0141arysa Krupa. According to human rights activists, the trial began in February 2024 at the Homiel Regional Court. Judge Anatol Sotnika\u016d presided over the proceedings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In March, she was reportedly sentenced to nine years in prison under a Criminal Code article against espionage. The court also ruled that her minibus be confiscated. Krupa was fined 4,000 rubels (over $1,200) for \u201cfailure to report a crime.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She served her sentence in Homiel’s Penal Colony No. 4.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In March, the Homiel Regional Court sentenced Kupriienko, 56, to seven years in a medium-security penal colony. Local residents Taras Ma\u010dynski (10 years in prison) and D\u017amitryj Sa\u0142avian\u010dyk (fined and released) were sentenced in the same case. Human rights defenders described their prosecution as politically motivated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kupriienka served his sentence at Vi\u0107ba’s Penal Colony No. 3.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In October 2023, the Brest Regional Court sentenced Briukhanova, a 30-year-old native of Kherson, to two and a half years in prison on an extremism charge. She moved to Belarus in 2016 and worked as a translator from Chinese.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Briukhanova was arrested crossing the Belarusian border in July last year. She served her sentence in the Penal Colony No. 4.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All except Shve\u0107 and Honcharenko were declared political prisoners.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In February 2023, a drone attacked the Russian military aircraft A-50 in Ma\u010duli\u0161\u010dy. Initially, the Belarusian resistance group ByPol claimed responsibility.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In July 2023, Alaksandar Azara\u016d, an opposition politician, said it was a joint operation by the ByPol resistance group and the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In March 2024, SBU head Vasy\u013e Maliuk publicly admitted the service’s involvement in the attack.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n
\n \"\"
\n

Zelensky supports Belarusians' European aspirations<\/h3>\n
May 9, Pozirk. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has backed Belarusians' European aspirations at a joint press conference with European Parliament President Roberta Metsola in Kyiv. Zelensky said his country met all the conditions "so that the negotiating framework could be …<\/div>\n \n