The Office of the President of Ukraine confirmed that the exchange of detained persons with temporarily occupied territories of Donetsk and Luhansk regions had begun at Horlivka checkpoint. It was reported on its Telegram page.
Ukraine will return 19 of its captive citizens. Given the lockdown in the country, upon their return, the released Ukrainians will be sent for mandatory observation.
Mutual release of detained persons takes place in an “all for all” format.
"Anyone who is illegally detained in the occupied territories or in another country is generally valuable for the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky and for the Ukrainian authorities. Ukraine should rescue all its citizens," the statement reads.
Negotiations are ongoing for the release of Ukrainians held in the occupied Crimea and in Russia.
Observers from the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission and the International Committee of the Red Cross are also at the Horlivka checkpoint.
As we reported earlier, according to separatist publication, the exchange process was scheduled to begin at 8:00 am.
