Four Ukrainian servicemen who spent more than three years hiding inside a hospital located in territory controlled by Russian forces were extracted in a special forces operation, Kyiv officials said.
Oleksii Neizhpapa, commander of the Ukrainian Navy, posted on Facebook that the rescue was carried out by the Angels special forces unit and described the retrieval as conducted "from the heart of enemy territory." He said the planning for the operation began after information about the men’s whereabouts emerged following a prisoner exchange.
According to Ukrainian officials, the four soldiers were injured on the battlefield in 2022 and subsequently hospitalized. To avoid capture by occupying forces, they concealed their identities while medical personnel sympathetic to Ukraine aided them by treating and hiding them inside the facility. Ukrainian authorities did not disclose the soldiers’ names or units in initial statements.
Neizhpapa, who leads the Angels unit, wrote that "our boys survived where there seemed to be no chance," and called the operation a demonstration of resilience and faith. He said the unit executed the extraction after receiving actionable intelligence uncovered during a prisoner swap but provided no further operational details. The rescue was announced on social media Friday.
The account of the hospital concealment and extraction could not be independently verified. Moscow did not immediately comment on the Ukrainian statements.
The operation highlights the continued complexity of prisoner-of-war issues in the conflict. Kyiv estimates that roughly 8,000 Ukrainian military personnel remain in detention in Russia and in areas of Ukraine occupied by Russian forces. Prisoner exchanges have been used intermittently throughout the war to secure the release of servicemen and civilians and, in some cases, to recover information about those still missing or held captive.
Humanitarian groups, international organizations and governments have repeatedly called for clearer information and access regarding detainees on both sides. Ukraine has publicly documented cases in which servicemen and civilians have been detained in occupied areas, and Kyiv has used returned prisoners to corroborate reports of conditions and locations of others.
The extraction of the four soldiers follows months of international attention on the status of POWs and on covert efforts by Ukrainian forces to locate and recover personnel believed to be held or hidden in occupied territory. Ukrainian officials said the men were taken out of the occupied area by the special operations unit; they did not say where the soldiers were moved after the rescue or provide a timeline for their medical or debriefing status.
Ukrainian authorities have not released further operational details, citing security concerns. The government has increasingly characterized such recoveries as part of broader efforts to safeguard personnel and press for the return of those still detained.
The rescue adds to a series of extraordinary accounts emerging from the conflict where wounded or missing soldiers were later found in makeshift concealments or held under restrictive conditions in occupied zones. Ukrainian officials say continued intelligence work and negotiated exchanges remain key tools for locating and recovering those believed to be alive but unable to return through formal channels.