The press secretary of the President of Ukraine Yulia Mendel said that Easter could be the reason for the exchange of prisoners in the Donbass according to the formula “all for all.” According to her, this process began in 2019, but has now turned out to be blocked. Mendel considers this to be an important issue in the context of the Normandy format.
Earlier, the press secretary of the Kiev delegation to the Trilateral Contact Group (TCG) on Donbass, Alexey Arestovich, said that the delegation submits lists for the exchange of detainees every month, and accused Russia of blocking this process. In turn, the Ombudsman of Ukraine Lyudmila Denisova said that 280 Ukrainian citizens are being illegally detained in certain areas of Donetsk and Luhansk regions, of which only 44 are military.
The last time the parties to the conflict exchanged prisoners in April 2020. Kiev received 14 people, and Donetsk and Lugansk – 20. Before that, under the presidency of Vladimir Zelensky, they exchanged in December 2019. Then Kiev transferred 124 people to the DPR and LPR, 76 people were given to them.