Former Kherson Mayor Freed After Three Years in Russian Captivity

Former Kherson mayor Volodymyr Mykolaienko has been released from Russian captivity.

MOST learned this from a source in the Office of the President of Ukraine.

Mykolaienko’s family also confirmed this information. The former mayor was released as part of a 146-for-146 prisoner exchange.

The first photos of him and a video greeting have already appeared.

At the beginning of the Russian occupation, Volodymyr Mykolaienko joined the territorial defense forces.

Later, he began receiving offers of cooperation directly from the now-eliminated collaborator Kyrylo Stremousov, but he rejected all of them. After that, the offers turned into threats, which Mykolaienko personally told MOST’s correspondent about.

Russian troops abducted the former Kherson mayor on April 18, 2022. His wife said that around 4:00 p.m., a friend called him and invited him to a meeting.

After that, Volodymyr Mykolaienko still called his wife, but nothing could be heard. He never contacted her again.

At first, he remained in Kherson — this was evident from propaganda-style videos in which the former mayor was “involved.” In one of them, Volodymyr Mykolaienko stated that Shukhevych fought for Ukraine (and not for the Nazi occupiers, as the propagandist claimed) and is a hero if the state itself awarded him that title.

After that, he was most likely taken either to Crimea or to Russia. Until the end of November 2022, nothing was known about his fate.

Later, representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross confirmed that he was being held in Russian captivity.

In May 2025, information appeared that the former Kherson mayor had refused an exchange in favor of a seriously ill prisoner of war. This happened back in 2022. After his refusal, the Russian side no longer included him in the exchange lists.

Volodymyr Mykolaienko served as the mayor of Kherson from 2014 to 2020. He was also a participant in the local Euromaidan. At that time, Mykolaienko expressed a firm stance on preventing provocations in Kherson and on the impossibility of the city being seized by terrorist groups.

EMPR