Contents tagged with prisoner exchange

  • Ukrainian Prosecutor General shares Facebook post confirming major prisoner swap with Russia

    The newly appointed Prosecutor General of Ukraine, Ruslan Riaboshapka, has shared a Facebook post by Verkhovna Rada employee Anna Islamova confirming a major prisoner exchange between Russia and Ukraine.

    “The exchange is complete: The sailors, Sentsov, Karpyuk, Balukh and Hryb are flying home,” Islamova wrote in the original post.

    Alexey Venediktov, editor-in-chief of Echo of Moscow, posted in his Telegram channel that the plane with released Ukrainian prisoners was scheduled to land in Kyiv …

  • Kyiv proposes swapping 23 Russian prisoners for Ukrainians held captive in Russia

    Kyiv increased the number of Russians offered in exchange for Ukrainian citizens convicted in Russia. The earlier offer was for the release of 20 Russian citizens. Now, Ukraine’s representative in the Humanitarian Subgroup on Donbas [of the Trilateral Contact Group] Iryna Herashchenko voiced the proposal to release 23 Russians, Interfax-Ukraine reports.

    "Those Russians who were detained, in fact, as a result of the war for... participation in the conflict under the guise of so-called "militia" …

  • Herashchenko: Ukraine prepared to exchange 20 Russians for Ukrainians imprisoned in Russia

    Ukraine is prepared to swap twenty Russians currently held in Ukrainian prisons in exchange for the release of Ukrainian political prisoners in Russia.

    Iryna Herashchenko, First Deputy chairman of the Verkhovna Rada and Ukraine's representative to the humanitarian subgroup of the Trilateral Contact Group on Ukraine, said that this issue will be raised on in Minsk on Wednesday, April 4.

    "The Working Group [is meeting] on April 4 in Minsk ... the second issue that we will raise there is the …

  • In the prisoner exchange with the separatists, Ukraine refused to surrender a witness in the case of the downed MH17 Boeing aircraft

    Ukraine refused to transfer a key witness to the separatists of Luhansk (LPR) and Donetsk (LPR) People’s Republics as part of a prisoner exchange. The witness is part of an ongoing investigation into the downing of Malaysian Airlines Flight MH17 in the skies over the Donbas in the summer of 2014.

    "LPR/DPR asked for a person who is actually listed as a witness in the case on the shooting down of the Malaysian Boeing. Of course, we did not give away this man. He remains here. We could not have …

  • Ukrainian President greets prisoners of war released from separatist captivity in Donbas

    President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko personally met Ukrainians who were released from the captivity of pro-Russian separatists in self-proclaimed Luhansk and Donetsk People’s Republics. A video of the head of state greeting the freed citizens was posted on Poroshenko’s Facebook page.

    Poroshenko met the former prisoners of war at the Boryspil airport where they were flown in by helicopters from the point of exchange. The President, clad in military fatigues and wearing an Armed Forces beret, …

  • SBU: 103 Ukrainians still remain in captivity in the Donbas

    103 Ukrainian soldiers and civilians are still held in captivity by the DPR (Donetsk People’s Republic) and LPR (Luhansk People’s Republic) separatists. Dozens of Ukrainian citizens are being illegally held in the territory of the Russian Federation, the press center of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) reported.

    According to the statement, 3,215 people in total have been released from captivity since 2014 and 402 persons are still considered missing.

    "We know each of them by name. And we …

  • Herashchenko: 170 Ukrainian citizens illegally held captive in Donbas

    The first vice-speaker of the Verkhovna Rada, the President's representative in the Trilateral Contact Group (TCG) on the issues of the Donbas, Iryna Herashchenko spoke with journalists on the night of December 25 after meeting with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko.

    In answer to questions from the journalists of 112 Ukraine TV, she declared that currently, 170 citizens of Ukraine are being illegally detained in separatist-held Donbas. Ukrayinski Pravda published several details about the …

  • Advisors to the heads of countries taking part in Normandy talks met in Minsk behind closed doors

    Negotiations among the advisers of the leaders of the Normandy format countries ended in Minsk, as reported by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Belarus.The Press Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the country, Dmitry Mironchik, relayed to BelTA, the meeting was held behind closed doors and lasted about four hours.

    He did not give any other details and the parties have not yet commented on the course and results of the meeting.

    The night before the talks, the Minister of Foreign …

  • New leader of LPR promised not to disrupt prisoner exchange with Ukraine

    The successor of the former head of LPR (Luhansk People’s Republic), Igor Plotnitsky’s, Leonid Pasechnik said that he will not prevent the exchange of prisoners.

    "Of course, the resignation of Igor Venediktovich will not impact the exchange of prisoners, the process continues. The leadership of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the People's Militia verified our people who are detained, who are on our territory, and are subject for an exchange. I will be given a list on Monday and will …

  • Peskov speaks of problems in prisoner exchange between Ukraine and separatist republics

    Russian Presidential Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov has spoken of issues in the exchange of prisoners between Ukraine and the two unrecognized republics, the Lugansk People’s Republic (LPR) and Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR).  "There are many problems that complicate the exchange itself," TASS reports.

     “The leaders of the unrecognized republics, [while] agreeing in general with this initiative (by Medvedchuk), noted that all details of the exchange with Kyiv still need to be agreed upon. And …