Update: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed on Dec. 28 that the prisoner exchange between Ukraine and Russia-backed forces in the Donbas may take place on Sunday, Dec. 29, but said the prisoner lists were still being finalized. According to Hromadske, five officers from the now disbanded Berkut special police unit, known for its violent actions during the 2014 Euromaidan Revolution, are to be on the list of prisoners released and swapped by Ukraine.
The Ukrainian government and Russia-backed militant forces in the eastern Donbas region will conduct a major prisoner swap on Dec. 29, the Russian daily newspaper Kommersant has reported.
The Moscow-based newspaper cited two unnamed sources with knowledge of ongoing negotiations who said that the exchange was set to go ahead on the last Sunday of 2019.
“We agreed to hold the exchange on December 29, unless, of course, something unforeseen happens,” one source reportedly told Kommersant.
Russian news agency Interfax also reported that the exchange would take place on Dec. 29, and cited an anonymous source who told its reporters that “about 200” prisoners would be swapped. Other estimations for the number of prisoners planned in the swap have ranged from 150 to 300.
On Dec. 26, Russia-backed militants in Donetsk may have confirmed that the exchange will take place on the morning of Dec. 29. A Telegram post that circulated among journalists in Ukraine and reportedly originated from seperatist sources said that the swap would happen at 11am at the Mayorsk checkpoint connecting militant held and government held parts of Donetsk.
There has been no official confirmation of the exchange date or time from Kyiv or Moscow. The sensitive talks are understood to be ongoing. Previous prisoner exchanges have been finalized at the last moment. Anticipation has mounted in Ukraine through recent days as another swap, agreed to during the Dec. 9 Normandy Four talks in Paris, is expected to take place before the end of 2019.
The release of some prisoners, reportedly on prisoner exchange lists, has already started taking place in Ukraine, fuelling speculation that a major swap is about to happen.
Following the Dec. 9 Paris talks, Ukraine, Russia, Germany and France agreed to start a procedure of what will become an “all for all” release and exchange of conflict-related prisoners. It was agreed that the first round would take place by the end of this year.
Another prisoner exchange this weekend would be the second to take place since President Volodymyr Zelensky took office in May.
On Sept. 7, Ukraine got back 35 of its prisoners from Russia directly, sending 35 to Moscow in return. Ukrainian detainees arrived home at Kyiv’s Boryspil International Airport but at least 200 more Ukrainians were left in Russian prisons.
That exchange, however, was between Russia and Ukraine. The next swap involves prisoners held in the Russia-backed breakaway parts of Donetsk and Luhansk, where militant forces and Russian proxies have tried to establish separatist republics.
A Dec. 29 prisoner exchange is likely to take place at the Mayorsk checkpoint in eastern Ukraine that connects government-controlled territory with militant-held areas.
There are at least 120 Ukrainian political prisoners jailed in Russia and Russian-annexed Crimea. There are also at least 130 military servicepeople and civilians imprisoned in Russia-controlled parts of the Donbas.
Now entering its sixth year, Russia’s war in eastern Ukraine has claimed some 14,000 lives. It has also left more than one million displaced and about 5.2 million in need of humanitarian aid, according to the United Nations.
