Updated 12:43 p.m. Moscow Time
KIEV, September 10 (RIA Novosti) – About 700 captives have already been handed over to Kiev by the eastern Ukrainian self-defense forces, and some 500 more will be released by the end of the week, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said Wednesday.
“The process of releasing captured servicemen and civilians has begun. Since the signing of the protocol, almost 700 Ukrainian civilians have been released as of today, and we have a schedule to let some 500 more people return home by the end of the week,” he said.
Earlier on Wednesday, Luhansk People’s Republic Prime Minister Igor Plotnitsky said the Luhansk and Donetsk people’s republics (LPR and DPR) were set to negotiate a joint prisoner exchange with Kiev. On September 7, Plotnitsky said that the two republics were ready to return to the Ukrainian side all listed Ukrainian military personnel that have been detained.
On September 5, during the meeting of the Contact Group on Ukraine in Minsk, the representatives of Ukraine, Russia and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) agreed to a ceasefire between the Kiev-backed forces and independence supporters, as well as the international monitoring of the truce implementation, the “all to all” prisoner exchange and humanitarian aid access to the troubled regions.
Since mid-April, Ukrainian authorities have been conducting a military operation against independence supporters in eastern Ukraine. The latter proclaimed independence of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions in May, after they had refused to acknowledge the newly-instated government that had come to power after the February 22 coup.
The confrontation in the east of Ukraine has so far claimed the lives of more than 3,000 people, with about 6,000 people injured, according to United Nation estimates.
