Six-year-old Rita and 13-year-old Andriy had waited since February 2022 for their father, Ihor Pavlyuk, a Ukrainian prisoner of war, to be released, after he was taken into captivity during the defence of the Chernobyl nuclear plant.

Ihor kept in touch with his family, despite the harsh conditions, sending a letter in 2022, making a video call for a minute in 2023, and writing again in 2024, expressing his wish to take Rita to her first school in 2025 and to be with his father on his birthday.

On Thursday, Ihor was amongst 185 Ukrainian military personnel - most of whom had been in Russian captivity since 2022 - and 20 civilians, who were returned home in a prisoner swap with Russia.

His wife, Mariya Pavlyuk said: “For us, this is the happiest day in all this time, in these three and a half years.”

Since the war began, more than 7,000 Ukrainians have returned, Zelenskyy said on Telegram.

Russia’s Defence Ministry said 185 of its soldiers and 20 civilians were also returned.