Ukraine in Arabic | Ukraine militias exchange prisoners
KYIV/Ukraine in Arabic/ Negotiators from both the Ukrainian government and the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic said Saturday’s swap had gone well.
Kyiv and Moscow confirmed that a number of prisoners were due to be exchanged on Sept. 21.
On Saturday (20 September) 76 people – 38 prisoners held by each side – were handed over.
Most of the prisoners were taken in buses to a roadside north of Donetsk and transferred, observed by monitors from the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).
“We need to start exchanging good words with one another, it’s important,” said Yuriy Tandit, a Ukrainian government negotiator who oversaw the roadside swap.
Tandit added that he was “happy” with the ceasefire.
Negotiators representing the Ukrainian government, the separatists – and also the Russian government – agreed a nine-point plan to establish a stable truce, at a meeting in the Belarusian capital Minsk on Saturday.
The measures include establishing a buffer zone and withdrawing heavy weaponry and foreign fighters.
But fresh clashes broke out in Donetsk within hours of the agreement being reached.