You're reading: Deutsche Welle: Ukraine and separatists begin landmark prisoner swap

Ukraine and Russia-backed separatists began a landmark prisoner swap on December 27, following the recommitment to a ceasefire in the Donbass region of eastern Ukraine last week.

It is the largest such swap since the 2014 outbreak of the insurgency.

During Russian President Vladimir Putin’s annual news conference of December 14, he had called on Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko to complete a prisoner exchange in war-ravaged eastern Ukraine by New Year’s Eve.

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