Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced on Friday that 10 civilians, including a politician and two priests, who were taken prisoner in Russia and Belarus, have been freed in a deal mediated by the Vatican.

"We managed to return 10 more of our people from Russian captivity," Zelensky said in a post on Telegram. The specifics of the deal, including whether it involved an exchange of Russian prisoners held in Ukraine, were not immediately clear.

The release of civilian prisoners is a rare occurrence, though Russia and Ukraine have exchanged hundreds of prisoners throughout their two-year conflict, typically in one-for-one swaps.

Some of the released prisoners had been in captivity since 2017, having been arrested in Russian-controlled parts of eastern Ukraine, which were then run by Moscow-backed separatists. Since then, Russia has annexed four Ukrainian regions—Donetsk, Kherson, Lugansk, and Zaporizhzhia—alongside the Crimea peninsula, which it seized in 2014.

The list of those freed included Nariman Dzhelal, a senior Crimean Tatar politician, and two priests from the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church. Five of the released prisoners had been originally arrested in Belarus, Russia's close ally, on charges of aiding Kyiv's army by providing information on Russian military movements.

Russia invaded Ukraine through Belarus at the start of the war, and although Minsk has not joined Russia's offensive, the two countries' militaries remain closely linked.

"They have all been released and are now back home in Ukraine," Zelensky said, expressing his gratitude for the Vatican's efforts in facilitating the prisoners' release.

"I would also like to note the Vatican's efforts to bring these people home," he added, without elaborating further. (ILKHA)