Ukrainian fighter's wife hopes prisoner swap pans out with Russia

FILE PHOTO: Five-month pregnant Mariia Zimareva, whose husband is a member of the National Guard injured during combat inside the besieged Azovstal Iron and Steel Works in Mariupol, attends a protest to demand a rescue operation, outside the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, in downtown Kyiv, Ukraine May 12, 2022. REUTERS/Carlos Barria

KYIV (Reuters) - As Ukrainian fighters left the Azovstal steelworks in Mariupol this week and ended their dramatic last stand against Russia's siege, Mariia Zimareva tried in vain to spot her husband amid the flood of news pictures being published.

The 19-year-old, who is five months pregnant, learned from her 22-year-old husband's unit on Wednesday that he was on a list of soldiers who had been taken from the steelworks to the Russian-controlled town of Olenivka near the regional capital Donetsk.