Ukrainian government forces and pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine have completed a full prisoner swap, exchanging all remaining detainees of the five-year conflict, the Ukrainian presidency has said.
“The mutual release of the detainees has ended,” the presidential office in Kyiv said on Sunday in a statement on Facebook.
It said that 76 former pro-government prisoners had returned home, while separatist officials said the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics took in a total of 124 people.
The exchange comes after Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy held their first face-to-face talks in Paris on December 9 and agreed on some measures to de-escalate Europe’s only active war.
The summit, mediated by the leaders of France and Germany, was the first of its kind in three years. (Al Jazeera)
Disclaimer
Comments expressed here do not reflect the opinions of Vanguard newspapers or any employee thereof.