POW exchange: Russian soldier whose partner came to Ukraine for his sake returns to Russia

Yevgeny Kovtkov, a Russian prisoner of war whose partner, Irina Krynina, is active in the Nash Vykhod movement [Our Way Out, a Russian initiative supporting families of POWs], has been returned to Russia as part of a prisoner exchange.

Source: Our Way Out; Important Stories, a Russian media outlet

Details: Kovtkov was mobilised in 2022 and taken prisoner a year later. In 2023, Krynina travelled to Kyiv with their children under a Ukrainian programme, Return the Husband to His Wife, hoping to take him home from captivity. But Kovtkov refused and chose to remain in Ukrainian custody, awaiting a future exchange.

Krynina stayed in Ukraine and later founded Our Way Out, an initiative offering information and support to families of Russian prisoners of war. She said she had been trying to persuade her partner not to go back to Russia for the past two years.

"On one hand, I'm happy for him because he really wanted to return to his homeland and see his parents. I'm glad he's going home. But at the same time, my heart aches because I know what's happening in Russia – they can send them back to war – and I want everything to go well for him," Krinina said after the exchange.

Despite her partner's return to Russia, Krynina plans to remain in Ukraine and continue supporting the families of Russian prisoners of war.

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