Self-proclaimed Donetsk republic says Kyiv fails to confirm lists for prisoner swap – ITAR
DONETSK, September 25. /ITAR-TASS/. The Kyiv authorities have so far failed to provide the lists of militia members to be exchanged for Ukrainian servicemen as part of a deal scheduled for Thursday, a Donetsk People’s Republic’s (DPR) official has said.
“The ‘60 for 60’ prisoner swap due today between DPR and Kyiv is still under question as he have sent all the lists to Kyiv and have not yet received any relative lists on their side,” a spokesperson for the DPR’s committee on refugees and prisoners of war said.
The prisoner exchange, based on the principle of numerical parity, is one of the key points of the agreement reached at the OSCE-mediated talks in the Belarusian capital Minsk on September 5.
The Minsk Protocol, which followed many previous attempts to stop fighting in eastern Ukraine, implemented an immediate ceasefire.
Four exchanges have been held since then, swapping numbers of 37 for 37, 70 for 70, 38 for 38 and 28 for 28.
The New York Times reported on Wednesday that Kyiv, which apparently lacks enough prisoners of war among self-defense militias, is releasing mixed groups of civilians, including teenagers, who were detained and kept for trading.
Many of those detained by Kyiv said that they had never fought for militias and in fact “had no idea how they ended up in a prisoner exchange in eastern Ukraine,” the report said.