DONETSK - The self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic and Luhansk People's Republic on Dec. 26 released 150 Ukrainian troops taken prisoner in return for 225 militants freed by the Ukrainian side, an Interfax correspondent reported from the site of the exchange.
The swap, carried through on neutral territory, was based on an agreement confirmed earlier by the Ukrainian Security Service.
It was reported earlier that the Trilateral Contact Group on Ukraine approved name lists of prisoners to be swapped between Kyiv and militants.
“The name lists have been approved and initialed by all the parties,” a Ukrainian member of the Contact Group, the country’s ex-president Leonid Kuchma, told Interfax on Friday.
At the Wednesday the parties reached an agreement over approval of total ceasefire and removal of heavy armor and artillery from the demarcation line, according to the agency. However, according to the agency’s sources, since a number of principled matters were not agreed upon, the relevant document could not be signed.
The self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics said they were ready to let Ukrainian aid convoys into the territories under their control.
