Pro-Kremlin mercenaries handed over the body of a dead Ukrainian serviceman to the Armed Forces of Ukraine. The man deceased after defecting to the enemy while being drunk. The Ukrainian side in the Minsk contact group reported that on December 17.
According to the Ukrainian delegation in the Minsk group, on December 14, the unarmed fighter had defected to the mercenaries; he was reportedly drunk or stoned.
The man served with one of the motorized brigades of Ukraine's Armed Forces. The cause of his death was either alcohol or drug intoxication.
Donbas militants have blocked the potential exchange of prisoners by making unrealistic demands that cannot be met. This was stated by the representative of the Ukrainian delegation to the Tripartite Contact Group Serhiy Garmash on his Facebook page.
Garmash said that pro-Russian militants demanded that Ukraine cleared the criminal records of nine people who had been released in Ukraine as part of the previous exchange.
