MOSCOW: Russian President Vladimir Putinhas spoken to the eastern Ukraine’s rebel leaders to discuss a prisoner swap, his first publicly acknowledged direct contact with the pro-Russian separatist republics.
The Kremlin said late Wednesday that Putin spoke by telephone with Alexander Zakharchenko, leader of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic, and Igor Plotnitsky, head of the Lugansk People’s Republic.
The entities, located in Ukraine’s Donetsk and Lugansk regions, declared independence from Kiev following Moscow’s annexation of Crimea in 2014, launching a war which has lasted to this day, killing more than 10,000 people.
Putin on Wednesday met with Ukrainian politician Viktor Medvedchuk, who is one …read more
Source: The Manila Times
