Hundreds of prisoners being held by Ukrainian authorities and separatists have been exchanged in a swap agreement near Donetsk on Friday.
The deal to swap 150 Ukrainian soldiers for 225 militants is the largest prisoner exchange to take place so far and comes following peace talks between envoys of Ukraine, Russia, the separatists and European security watchdog Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) earlier this week. The talks were reported to have been inconclusive, but the move is part of a 12-point plan aimed at reaching a peaceful settlement to the conflict.
The Press Secretary of the President of Ukraine Svyatoslav Tsegolko said in a Facebook post,
“The head of the SBU [security service] reported the release of 146 Ukrainians to the president. The SBU expects another four prisoners to be released tomorrow. They will all be able to celebrate new year ... with their families.”
Ukraine’s military said earlier this month that they are holding around 600 separatist militants in detention, but it is unclear as to how many prisoners both sides have captured.
Meanwhile, Kiev announced that train and bus links to the Crimea peninsula, which was annexed by Russia earlier this year, are to be halted – effectively creating a transportation blockade to and from the region. The move follows an announcement by Visa and MasterCard, the world's two largest credit and debit card companies, that they would no longer be accepting payments made in Crimea, as part of a fresh US sanctions imposed on Russia.
The conflict in eastern Ukraine has claimed 4,700 lives so far.