Russian-sponsored militants from non-government-controlled areas of Donbas handed over lists for prisoner exchange.

This was announced by a member of the Ukrainian delegation to the Trilateral Contact Group on Donbas, a member of the humanitarian subgroup Tetiana Ivanova. She added that the Ukrainian side in the TCG had been waiting for this “for a very long time.”

Kyiv submitted the lists for exchange at least six months ago.

“All this time, Ukraine has insisted that we be given the lists of CADLR [certain areas of Donetsk and Luhansk regions] in a mirror way. They had not been submitted for a long time, and we received the lists in April of this year,” Ivanova said.

According to her, experts are currently working with the lists, clarifying the details.

Earlier, TCG spokesperson Oleksiy Arestovych noted that the Ukrainian side had sent lists for exchange every month, but representatives of militants didn’t submit their lists.

In late April, Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights Liudmyla Denisova clarified that 114 Ukrainians were illegally held in custody in Russia on political charges, 15 of them in Crimea. At the same time, 280 Ukrainians are being illegally held in the non-government-controlled areas of Donbas. There are 236 civilians, including four volunteers, among them. The militants also hold captive 40 servicepersons (36 members of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and four officers of the Ministry of Internal Affairs), as well as four members of volunteer battalions. In addition, 258 people more have gone missing.

Bohdan Marusyak

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