The sides of the Minsk Talks confirmed the readiness to hold the prisoners’ exchange on the basis of the approved lists at the meeting of the Trilateral Contact Group on Donbas. Darka Olifer, the spokeswoman of Leonid Kuchma, the representative of Ukraine at the Minsk Talks reported this at Facebook.
‘The Trilateral Contact Group on Donbas with the participation of the representatives of the occupied Donbas confirmed the readiness to hold the exchange of the prisoners on the basis of the approved lists and agree in the shortest time on the procedure and date of the exchange on the basis of the strive for holding this exchange until the Christmas and New Year’s holidays’, Olifer wrote.
Earlier Iryna Gerashchenko, the First Vice Speaker of the Ukrainian Parliament claimed that The number of Ukrainian citizens illegally held in detention by Donbas militants has grown, and currently, it’s 162.
President of Russia Vladimir Putin promised to discuss the issue of exchanging Donbas detainees with the commanders of the Russia-backed militants in Donbas on November 15. It is noted that it was pro-Russian Ukrainian politician Viktor Medvedchuk who addressed President Putin on the issue.
Earlier OSCE claimed that the final lists of the detainees of the Donbas conflict to be exchanged are not ready yet. It was added that the difficulties could occur as new detainees on both sides appeared.