On 23-25 May 2025, the largest prisoner exchange since the start of the full-scale war between Ukraine and russia took place. As a result of the agreements reached during the negotiations in Istanbul, 1,000 Ukrainians returned home, including five DTEK Energy employees who defended Ukraine at the frontline.
On 23 May, our colleagues from DTEK Pavlohradcoal stepped onto Ukrainian soil:
- Anton Kobets, an underground miner from Heroiv Kosmosu Mine Office, was captured in May 2022 after the battle for Mariupol.
- Dmytro Shytra, a power engineer at Pavlohrad Energy Enterprise, was captured in February 2023 during the combat operations near Kreminna.
On 25 May, three more miner heroes returned:
- Serhii Zemlianyi, a miner from Heroiv Kosmosu Mine, who had been in captivity since May 2022 after the battle for Mariupol.
- Vitalii Yavorskyi, an underground machine operator at Pershotravenske Mine Office, was captured in January 2023 during the fighting near the village of Opytne in Bakhmut sector.
- Stanislav Tretiakov, an underground miner from Heroiv Kosmosu Mine Office and a serviceman of the National Guard, went missing on 14 February 2023 in the Serebryansky forest in Luhansk region, and on 1 July 2023 it became known that he was in captivity.
This period was extremely challenging for our colleagues, but their resilience, our support and the faith of every Ukrainian became a decisive force that helped them to survive and return home.
We sincerely welcome our heroes back! We are proud of their resilience, courage and loyalty to Ukraine. We are looking forward to seeing you back in your company teams as soon as possible.