Ukraine’s military and intelligence agencies have freed American prisoner of war Suedi Murekezi in an exchange involving dozens of prisoners from both sides.
Russian forces arrested Murekezi, 35, on suspicion of serving as a CIA agent. Murekezi had lived for two years in the city of Kherson before his arrest in June following the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
A two-hour ceasefire allowed Ukrainian and Russian soldiers to meet just outside Zaporizhzhia in the “grey zone” and exchange prisoners. Murekezi had remained in Russian-controlled territory before the swap, ABC News reported.
Murekezi spoke of his treatment in a Russian “torture chamber,” where he had stayed weeks earlier during the war, being subjected to electric shocks in a basement while soldiers accused him of being a CIA agent and participating in pro-Ukrainian protests. He said the soldiers provided minimal food and water.
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Russian state news agency TASS reported that authorities accused Murekezi of “inciting ethnic hatred”.
U.S. citizen Suedi Murekezi holds a Ukrainian national flag after a prisoner of war (POW) exchange, during Russia’s attack on Ukraine, in an undisclosed location, Ukraine, in this image distributed on December 14, 2022.
(Head of Presidential Office of Ukraine Andriy Yermak via Telegram/Handout via Reuters)
He remained in custody along with Alexander Drueke and Andy Tai Ngoc Huynh, two American fighters arrested by Russian forces in June.
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The Russians then transferred Murekezi to a prison in Donetsk, where he remained for three months before being released. He stayed in the city because he did not have a passport and therefore could not leave the territory controlled by the Russians.
A view of a destroyed shopping mall in the city of Kherson on July 20, 2022, during the ongoing Russian military action in Ukraine.
(Stringer/AFP via Getty Images)
Ukraine has secured the release of 64 soldiers and five Ukrainians killed in addition to Murekezi, The Hill reported. Ukrainian forces said they were taking Murekezi to Kiev.
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Murekezi’s brother told The Guardian newspaper that all their friends and family were “extremely concerned” for his well-being as they had not heard from him for weeks after his arrest. He insisted at the time that Russia held his brother captive for “its own propaganda purposes”.
Andriy Yermak, head of Ukraine’s presidential office, speaks during an interview in Kiev, Ukraine on August 22, 2022.
(Metin Aktas/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
Murekezi was born in Rwanda in 1985 but fled with his family due to the genocide, after which they moved to Minnesota. He first visited Ukraine in 2017 for business, but settled there permanently in 2020.
He had served in the US Air Force before living in Ukraine.
The US State Department had previously said it was “aware of the reports” of Murekezi’s detention but declined to comment further due to “privacy considerations”, but his family said they remained in daily contact with the State Department about his situation.
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Andriy Yermak, head of Ukraine’s presidential office, wrote in Telegram that “another exchange of prisoners” had taken place, adding that “we continue to return ours”.
