U.S. Citizen Freed Along With Ukrainian Soldiers In Donetsk – U.S. National Security Council spokesman John Kirby confirmed on Wednesday that U.S. Air Force veteran Suedi Murekezi has been released from Russian-controlled territory in Ukraine after a prisoner swap was agreed upon between Ukraine and Russia.
Murekezi is a United States citizen originally from Minnesota, but who has been living in Ukraine since 2018.
According to a Twitter post by Andriy Yermak, the chief of staff for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s office, Murezeki was freed along with 64 Ukrainian soldiers who were fighting Russian invaders in Luhansk and Donetsk.
“Another POWs swap. 64 soldiers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, who fought in the Donetsk and Luhansk areas, are going home,” Yermak wrote, adding that a U.S. citizen who “helped our people” was also freed.
ABC News followed a military convoy that took Murezeki and other prisoners out of the Russian-controlled territory and into Kyiv. The convoy was made safe by a two-hour ceasefire that was agreed upon in the region and began at midday local time. Prisoners in Ukrainian-controlled territory were also transported at the same time.
Why Was Murekezi Arrested?
In July, Sele Murekezi claimed that his brother, Suedi Murekezi, had called him to say he was being detained in the Donetsk People’s Republic, a self-declared republic that Russia “annexed” in September and absorbed into the Russian Federation.
Murekezi’s brother explained how he received a phone call from an unknown number on July 7 this year, and upon answering the call, an unidentified person passed the phone to his brother who claimed he was accused of engaging in pro-Ukraine protests in the region.
The man confirmed that he was not being injured or tortured at the time, though that later changed.
“He has done his part for America,” Sele Murekezi said this summer, “and maybe America can do something for him, as well.”
Murezeki Tells All
After being released, Murezeki revealed that he was accused by the Russians of working for the Central Intelligence Agency and that during his time in detention, he and other Americans were given access to barely enough food and water.
Murezeki also said that he was forced to spend weeks inside a basement following his initial arrest and that he was later forced to endure regular beatings and torture using electric shocks.
The U.S. veteran was then transferred to a prison in Donetsk city, where he remained for three months before his release.
Jack Buckby is 19FortyFive’s Breaking News Editor.
