The exchange, originally agreed between the presidents of Ukraine and Russia at the December 9, 2019, Normandy Summit, is over and the Russian-controlled Donbas “republics” have handed over 12 Ukrainian prisoners of war and 64 civilian hostages. (Four of the people released have families in the occupied Donbas and chose to remain there.)
Russia’s interpretation of the Minsk demand that prisoners are released “all for all” has always been highly specific, and the 80 Ukrainians freed were in exchange for 127 prisoners handed over to the so-called republics. Frustration and anger over the release of suspected Maidan killers, terrorists and others were always tempered by awareness of the hell many of the hostages were going through and the families longing for their release.