KYIV – President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met with the freed Ukrainian sailors who had been detained in the Russian Federation on September 12 in an informal atmosphere in the park courtyard of the Mariyinsky Palace in Kyiv. The meeting was also attended by the relatives of the sailors. Mr. Zelenskyy congratulated the servicemen on the return to their homeland and thanked the sailor’s relatives for the support they provided. “They are the same heroes as you. They did everything to bring you back, and we helped them,” Mr. Zelenskyy said. The president stressed that the operation to return the Ukrainians from Russia had been extremely difficult; many people and authorities were involved in the process and worked in a coherent manner. “It was very difficult to keep it a secret when so many people were involved,” the president said. He presented gifts of presidential watches to the sailors.
– Presidential Office of Ukraine