DONETSK, October 2 (RIA Novosti) – Half of the people sent by Kiev to the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic during the last prisoner exchange are not militia members, a representative from the DPR committee on refugees and prisoners of war said Thursday.
The last prisoner swap took place on Sunday as Kiev offered 60 prisoners in exchange for 30 army soldiers captured by the militia.
"30 out of 60 people are civilians who have no relation to the militia," the official told reporters.
There are some DPR supporters among those 30 people but they had never been members of the militia, the committee representative explained.
In total, the independence supporters have handed over 217 Ukrainian personnel so far, while Kiev authorities have freed 232 people, the official added.
The swaps follow the groundbreaking ceasefire agreement in the Belarusian capital of Minsk on September 5 when the sides agreed to exchange all prisoners and open humanitarian corridors. The agreement was based on a peace plan drawn up by Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko for resolving the conflict in eastern Ukraine, alongside proposals made by Russian President Vladimir Putin.
