© AP Photo/Alexei AlexandrovA Russia-backed separatist soldier escorts a group of separatists war prisoners after they were exchanged near the checkpoint Horlivka, eastern Ukraine, Sunday, Dec. 29, 2019. Ukrainian forces and Russia-backed rebels in the east have begun exchanging prisoners in a move aimed at ending their five-year-long war.
The move was part of an agreement brokered earlier this month at a summit of the leaders of Ukraine, Russia, Germany and France.
A rebel government official and the Ukrainian president's office confirmed that the swap at a checkpoint near the rebel-held city of Horlivka had started.
The total number of people freed was not immediately known, though authorities said earlier that 142 were expected to be involved in the exchange — 55 released by the rebels and 87 by Ukraine.
Comment: So far, the numbers are looking higher than expected:
The self-declared Donetsk People's Republic has handed over 51 people to Kiev, while receiving 61 of their followers. The Lugansk region returned 25 and took in 63 prisoners; nine people held by Kiev refused to partake in the exchange.
The office of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed that Kiev had received a total of 76 people from Donetsk and Lugansk.
Those to be released by Ukraine included five former members of the now-disbanded special police force Berkut who were charged in the killing of protesters in Kyiv in 2014, Ukrainian news site Hromadske quoted their lawyer, Igor Varfolomeyev, as saying.
Comment: Charged, but perhaps not guilty. Most if not all of the killing was done by neo-Nazi snipers and mercenaries.
Ludmila Denisova, human rights envoy for the Ukrainian parliament, said the first group released by the rebels included Ukrainian soldiers.
The last major prisoner swap between separatist rebels and Ukrainian forces took place in December 2017, with 233 rebels exchanged for 73 Ukrainians.
The conflict in eastern Ukraine has killed more than 14,000 people since 2014. It began about two months after Ukraine's Russia-friendly president fled the country amid massive protests in Kyiv. Russia's annexation of the Crimean Peninsula soon followed.
Hopes for ending the fighting have risen since the spring election of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, who has been more amenable to negotiations with Russia on ending the war.
But prospects for peace are still troubled by questions over allowing local elections that would ensure the rebel regions more autonomy and about Ukraine regaining control of its border with Russia in the rebel areas.
Reader Comments