A senior Ukrainian official announced his country and Russia had agreed to exchange prisoners from the conflict in eastern Ukraine over the next month.
Kiev’s forces have been battling pro-Russian separatists in the Donbass region of eastern Ukraine since 2014, in a conflict that has claimed more than 13,000 lives. Sporadic fighting continues despite a ceasefire agreement.
In the last prisoner exchange, conducted in December 2017, Ukraine handed over about 300 captives to pro-Russian separatists and took back around 70, but disagreements have prevented any further swaps since then.
“We have agreed to exchange a certain number of our captives during one month,” Vadym Prystaiko, a senior presidential official and the nominee for the post of Ukrainian foreign minister, told reporters.
The ombudsmen of Russia and Ukraine also said they were discussing the possibility of the Ukrainian and Russian presidents pardoning some prisoners.
Russia’s President Vladimir Putin and Ukraine’s new leader, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, discussed the issue of prisoner exchanges during their first telephone conversation last week.
Via Reuters
