{"id":1777421,"date":"2022-12-16T06:30:22","date_gmt":"2022-12-16T11:30:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1777421"},"modified":"2022-12-16T09:22:28","modified_gmt":"2022-12-16T14:22:28","slug":"ukraine-says-u-s-air-force-veteran-freed-in-russia-prisoner-swap","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/ukraine-says-u-s-air-force-veteran-freed-in-russia-prisoner-swap\/","title":{"rendered":"Ukraine Says U.S. Air Force Veteran Freed in Russia Prisoner Swap"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">22<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fukraine-says-u-s-air-force-veteran-freed-in-russia-prisoner-swap%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1777421&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/wp-apps\/imrs.php?src=https:\/\/arc-anglerfish-washpost-prod-washpost.s3.amazonaws.com\/public\/3OOAPFNYLXAKGUYAOSKQN4LUVQ.JPG&#038;w=1440\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\" alt=\"image\"   style=\"display:none\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\" class=\"wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css font-copy\">A U.S. Air Force veteran captured by Russian forces in Ukraine this year has been released from occupied territory as part of a prisoner swap between Moscow and Kyiv, a senior Ukrainian official and the detainee\u2019s family said Wednesday.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\" class=\"wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css font-copy\">Suedi Murekezi, a native of Rwanda who has lived in Ukraine since 2018, was detained in June. He had been working in the technology industry and decided not to leave after Russia invaded, his family said. His captors accused him of taking part in pro-Ukrainian protests, and he is not believed to have been involved in the fighting, they said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\" class=\"wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css font-copy\">Andriy Yermak, the head of Ukraine\u2019s presidential office, wrote on Twitter that Murekezi was released alongside 64 Ukrainian prisoners of war who had been fighting in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions. He described Murekezi as \u201ca U.S. citizen who helped our people.\u201d The bodies of four other Ukrainians were also repatriated, Yermak added.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\" class=\"wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css font-copy\">The State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\" class=\"wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css font-copy\">Murekezi\u2019s brother, Sele Murekezi, told The Washington Post on Wednesday that his sibling was released from imprisonment in October but was not allowed to leave the separatist areas.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\" class=\"wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css font-copy\">\u201cHe\u2019s relieved,\u201d Sele Murekezi said by phone. \u201cBasically, he was stuck where he was.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<p><span class=\"font--article-body font-copy hide-for-print ma-0 pb-md db italic interstitial\"><a data-qa=\"interstitial-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/world\/2022\/07\/17\/american-air-force-vet-detained-ukraine-russia\/?itid=lk_interstitial_manual_11\">Air Force veteran detained by pro-Russian separatists, brother says<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\" class=\"wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css font-copy\">Murekezi said he had talked to his brother Wednesday morning, and that he sounded good. It\u2019s likely Suedi Murekezi, who lived in Minnesota when not abroad, will come back to the United States, his brother said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\" class=\"wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css font-copy\">After his detention in the southern Kherson region, Murekezi was moved to separatist-held territory closer to the Russian border, where others from the West, including those who volunteered to fight in the war on Ukraine\u2019s behalf, have been kept captive.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\" class=\"wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css font-copy\">Murekezi was for a time held in the Donetsk People\u2019s Republic with two other U.S. military veterans, Alexander Drueke and Andy Tai Huynh, both of Alabama, who were freed in a prisoner exchange in September. In a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/national-security\/2022\/10\/01\/alex-drueke-andy-huynh-russian-prisoners\/?itid=lk_inline_manual_16\">lengthy interview with The Washington Post<\/a> after they were freed, Drueke and Huynh described brutal conditions in which they were frequently beaten and ate little.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<p><span class=\"font--article-body font-copy hide-for-print ma-0 pb-md db italic interstitial\"><a data-qa=\"interstitial-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/national-security\/2022\/10\/01\/alex-drueke-andy-huynh-russian-prisoners\/?itid=lk_interstitial_manual_17\">Americans captured by Russia detail months of beatings, interrogation<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\" class=\"wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css font-copy\">Speaking to <a href=\"https:\/\/abcnews.go.com\/International\/american-suedi-murekezi-freed-russian-controlled-territory-ukrainian\/story?id=95215831\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">ABC News<\/a> in Ukraine on Wednesday, Murekezi described similar treatment while in captivity, saying he was held in a basement, shocked and struck. His captors, he told the network, accused him of working as an American intelligence operative.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\" class=\"wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css font-copy\">Murekezi immigrated to the United States as a teenager and spent eight years in the Air Force, according to his brother. He later moved to Ukraine and was based in Kherson \u2014 the first major city to fall to Russian forces following the Feb. 24 invasion, and which was recently recaptured by Ukrainian forces.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<p><span class=\"font--article-body font-copy hide-for-print ma-0 pb-md db italic interstitial\"><a data-qa=\"interstitial-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/world\/2022\/12\/07\/ukraine-russia-pows-exchange-prisoners\/?itid=lk_interstitial_manual_20\">As Ukraine and Russia step up prisoner exchanges, scarred POWs tell of abuse<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\" class=\"wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css font-copy\">A total of 1,456 prisoners have been released from Russian captivity or Russia-controlled territory<b> <\/b>since the conflict began, Andriy Yusov, a spokesman for Ukraine\u2019s coordination headquarters for the treatment of prisoners of war, told The Post on Wednesday.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\" class=\"wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css font-copy\">As the pace of prisoner exchanges between Russia and Ukraine has accelerated in recent weeks, reports have emerged of the abuse detainees faced while in Russian captivity.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\" class=\"wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css font-copy\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/world\/2022\/12\/07\/ukraine-russia-pows-exchange-prisoners\/?itid=lk_inline_manual_26\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">One prisoner of war told The Post <\/a>he was beaten so badly that his ribs were broken and his kidneys were badly injured. Drueke and Huynh, who shared a cell with Murekezi for several weeks, detailed repeated interrogations, facing physical and psychological abuse, and having little access to clean water. After their release in September, they said they intended to raise broader awareness about his case.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\" class=\"wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css font-copy\">Wednesday\u2019s prisoner swap comes days after <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/world\/2022\/12\/11\/viktor-bout-brittney-griner-russia-interview\/?itid=lk_inline_manual_27\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">WNBA star Brittney Griner<\/a> was freed by Moscow in exchange for Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout. The United States also is trying to secure the release of another U.S. national, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/world\/2022\/12\/08\/who-is-paul-whelan\/?itid=lk_inline_manual_27\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Paul Whelan<\/a>, who has been held in Russia for four years and has been sentenced to 16 years in prison on espionage charges that Washington has denounced as bogus.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\" class=\"wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css font-copy\"><i>Marisa Iati and Annabelle Timsit contributed to this report.<\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A U.S. Air Force veteran captured by Russian forces in Ukraine this year has been released from occupied territory as part of a prisoner swap<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1777424,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[547],"tags":[6229,5458,4649,6835,4375,3819,4280,7359,7238,6991,4958],"class_list":["post-1777421","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-bongino-report","tag-air","tag-bongino","tag-force","tag-freed","tag-prisoner","tag-report","tag-russia","tag-swap","tag-u-s","tag-ukraine","tag-veteran"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1777421","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1777421"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1777421\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1777424"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1777421"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1777421"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1777421"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}