Agreement on pre-Easter prisoner swap
Ukraine and Russian-backed militants in the east of the country have agreed to another prisoner swap ahead of Julian calendar Easter. The Russian and Ukrainian sides in the so-called Trilateral Contact Group (TCG) made the announcement late on April 8 following a video conference. The talks led to “fundamental agreements on the lists for the mutual release of detained persons” no later than Orthodox Easter on April 19, according to a statement on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s website. Russia’s envoy to the TCG, Boris Gryzlov, said Kyiv and “separatists” in the Donbas region had “principally coordinated the lists of detained persons for exchange.” It was not immediately clear how many prisoners the two sides would exchange. The last prisoner swap in December 2019 involved 200 people. During the video conference, held in keeping with recommendations against in-person gatherings because of the coronavirus pandemic, the sides also discussed demining and negotiations on the disengagement of troops in the Donbas region.