Deutsche Welle. Ukraine and pro-Russian rebels began a landmark prisoner swap on Wednesday, following the recommitment to a ceasefire in the Donbass region of eastern Ukraine last week.
It is the largest such swap since the 2014 outbreak of the insurgency.
During Russian President Vladimir Putin’s annual news conference of December 14, he had called on Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko to complete a prisoner exchange in war-ravaged eastern Ukraine by New Year’s Eve.
Following Russia’s decision on December 18 to withdraw from the Joint Centre for Control and Coordination, which monitors the ceasefire, German Chancellor Angela Merkel spoke with Putin via telephone. The Kremlin said the pair agreed to have aides draw up a list of conditions to allow the observers’ return, including a prisoner swap between the Ukrainian government and pro-Russia rebels.
Also in a phone call with Merkel, Poroshenko said he would work for an exchange of prisoners held by both sides in the conflict, a spokesman for the German chancellor said on Friday.
More than 10,000 people have been killed in fighting between Ukrainian troops and Russia-backed separatists in Ukraine’s industrial heartland since 2014. Dozens of prisoners of war are still held captive on both sides of the slow-simmering conflict.
At a meeting with the relatives of hostages, Poroshenko said, “Nothing is more important than to return our people home.”
Poroshenko emphasized that the exchange was possible due to the Minsk agreements.
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Photo – DW
