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Ukraine soldier's ordeal offers view into prisoner swaps

Ukrainian soldier Glib Stryzhko's mother knew he'd fallen into Russian hands but it wasn't until her gravely wounded 25-year-old son made a secret phone call to her that she found out where he was.

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Getting to that point took just weeks, a remarkably short timeline among war captives, whose fates have always been part of an emotional, high-stakes and sometimes political process that can go on long after the shooting has stopped. In Ukraine's case, over 350 of its troops have been freed so far in swaps, which happen on a one-for-one basis between people of the same rank, Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk told AFP. Stryzhko's twisting route home started on social media. A comrade happened to spot him on a Telegram channel where pro-Russian separatists in Ukraine post images of captured enemy soldiers.