Ukraine govt., pro-Russians agree on prisoner swap by year end
The representatives of the government and the pro-Russia forces in Ukraine have agreed to carry out a prisoner exchange by the end of the year, following extensive peace talks in Paris.
Martin Sajdik, the envoy of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), which is tasked with monitoring truce agreements in eastern Ukraine, made the announcement in a statement on the OSCE website on Monday.
Sajdik said the agreement came during a video conference of the Contact Group — comprising Russian, Ukrainian, and OSCE representatives — with the participation of pro-Russia groups, who control large swathes of Donetsk and Luhansk in Ukraine’s east.
Boris Gryzlov, who represents Russia in the Contact Group, also confirmed to reporters that the parties had managed to agree on “the necessary conditions” for the swap.
The announcement came after Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, held their first face-to-face talks at a Paris summit this month and agreed to “commit to a full and comprehensive implementation” of a ceasefire in eastern Ukraine by the end of December and proceed with a new withdrawal of forces from conflict zones by March 2020.
Zelenskyy said at the time that he expected all the 72 Ukrainian prisoners held by the pro-Russians to return home before the year’s end.
Russia and Ukraine last swapped prisoners in September, the first such exchange in two years.
Relations between Moscow and Kiev deteriorated in 2014, when the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea joined Russia following a referendum.
An armed conflict then broke out in Ukraine’s east between the government and allied militia on the one side and pro-Russians on the other.
The conflict has killed more than 13,000 people since April 2014.
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