Pavlo Kholodov is a cameraman for RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service.
"Every day I feel discomfort that the guys are still there and I am free," says former Kherson Mayor Volodymyr Mykolayenko, who spent three and a half years in Russian captivity.
Volodymyr Mykolayenko, the former mayor of the Ukrainian city of Kherson, spent more than three years in Russian captivity. Now 65, he is thin, frail, and recovering, but ready to help rebuild his war-torn hometown.
In March 2022, as Russian forces overtook the Ukrainian town of Bucha, dozens of civilians were killed in the area around Yablunska Street. In a new investigation, RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service used surveillance video and other records to reconstruct a complete picture of the bloodiest days there.
There were scenes of raw emotion as hundreds of Ukrainian soldiers returned from Russia on the second day of a mass prisoner exchange on May 24. Draped in Ukrainian flags, they emerged from buses and were embraced by loved ones amid tears of joy.
A Russian shell came close to directly hitting an RFE/RL crew on the front line in Ukraine's Donetsk region. Correspondent Roman Pahulych and cameraman Pavlo Kholodov were filming with a Ukrainian drone team on October 10 when the shell struck.
Ten Ukrainian civilians arrived in Kyiv early on June 29 after years of imprisonment -- five had been held in Russia and five others in Belarus. Some -- such as Crimean Tatar politician Nariman Dzhelyal -- were detained on Ukrainian territory occupied by Russia.
Anton Smetskiy was a professional dancer in Kyiv before fighting against Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. A mine took his right foot in combat, but he's determined to once again perform onstage.
