Turkey violated agreements by freeing the jailed commanders of a unit that for weeks defended the Azovstal steel plant in the Ukrainian city of Mariupol, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said today.

Peskov, according to Russia’s RIA news agency, said that under the terms of the prisoner exchange the fighters would remain in Turkey until the end of the war.

Russia had not received information about their release, he added.

Today, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelesnyi returned to Ukraine from Turkey, taking with him five former garrison commanders in Mariupol, saying “we are bringing back our heroes”.

According to the terms of the agreement, brokered by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the five Ukrainian commanders were to remain in Turkey until the end of the war “in conditions of complete security and comfortable living conditions”.

The Ukrainian fighters are Denis Prokopenko, Svyatoslav Palamar, Serhiy Volinsky, Oleh Khomenko, Denis Slegka.