The Sunday Mail
Ukrainian authorities and pro-Russian rebels have exchanged hundreds of prisoners of war, a spokesman for President Petro Poroshenko said, part of a 12-point plan aimed at ending the conflict in the east of the country.
The agreement to swap 146 Ukrainian troops for 222 rebels followed peace talks between envoys of Ukraine, Russia, the separatists and the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), the Vienna-based security and rights watchdog.
“The head of the SBU (security service) reported the release of 146 Ukrainians to the president,” spokesman Svyatoslav Tsegolko said in a Facebook post.
Russia’s state television showed Ukrainian war prisoners boarding buses in the main rebel stronghold of Donetsk before being driven to a location north of the city where the exchange took place.
On the site where the swap was conducted, prisoners were called up by groups of 10 with officials from both sides verifying their identities.
It is not known exactly how many prisoners are held by the two sides, but Ukraine’s military said this month about 600 Ukrainians were in rebel hands.
Earlier on Friday, the Foreign Ministry of Belarus – the host of the negotiations – said that a round of peace talks between Ukrainian and pro-Russian rebel leaders was scrapped.
The opening round was held on Wednesday, one day after Ukraine’s decision to drop its non-aligned status, which added a new element of tension to attempts to resolve the violent crisis in the country. – Aljazeera
