Pro-Russian fighters, Ukraine army swap prisoners under ceasefire deal

PanARMENIAN.Net - The forces of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic have exchanged a batch of prisoners with the Ukrainian army in a move that was stipulated as one of the key issues of the Minsk ceasefire agreement reached between the two sides last week, RT reported.

“The exchange has taken place,” a representative of the self-proclaimed republic's defense ministry told Interfax news agency earlier. “We handed 36 prisoners over to the Kiev side in exchange for 31 of our supporters. Kiev promises to hand over five more tomorrow.”

In the meantime, reporters for the Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper working in Ukraine have confirmed an exchange of 37 fighters for 37 Ukrainian troops, saying that the previous report was a bit premature and the actual swap did not happen until later Thursday, Sept 11 night.

Under the terms of the ceasefire signed in Minsk on Sept 5, both sides of the conflict have agreed to swap prisoners on an 'all-for-all' basis as a sign of good will as adversaries look for ways to create permanent peace in the region.

Other key issues that the Minsk contact group on Ukraine agreed on include a ceasefire and withdrawal of military hardware, as well as opening corridors for humanitarian aid access to the conflict-torn regions.

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said on Wednesday that immediately after the Minsk agreement was signed, Kiev received 700 of its servicemen back and was expecting another 500 to be transferred by the end of the week. At the same time, Kiev claims to hold some 300 members of the anti-government fighters. However, at least 1,000 more remain missing, some of whom could also be held captive, according to representatives of the self-proclaimed republics.

Kiev is using the ceasefire to regroup its forces, which it claims will not mount to a new offensive, but rather serve as a defense line in eastern part of the country, a spokesperson for Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council said Thursday.

Ukraine is creating a solid, reinforced and continuous line of defense to “eliminate the chances of encirclement of Ukrainian troops” in the future, said Andrey Lysenko, according to RIA Novosti.

President Poroshenko also confirmed on Wednesday he was “regrouping” his forces in the east, justifying it as a move to defend the country's territory.

The ceasefire, in the meantime is fragile, Russian Foreign Minister Spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said on Thursday, stating that "there is mounting evidence that Kiev is reinforcing military groups in different areas in the country’s east."

With sporadic clashes still happening following the truce agreement, both the Ukrainian military and anti-Kiev forces have been accusing each other of violating the peace.