Ukraine and Russia-backed separatists in the country’s war-torn east exchanged 200 prisoners on Sunday, swapping detained fighters for civilians and servicemen held captive in some cases for years in two breakaway regions.
Kyiv handed over to separatists five riot policemen suspected of killing protesters during a pro-Western uprising in 2014 as part of the swap, sparking public outrage.
“The mutual release of the detainees has ended,” the Ukrainian presidential office said in a statement on Facebook, specifying that Kyiv received 76 captives.
Separatist officials said the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics took in a total of 124.
Later the Ukrainian presidency published the …read more
Source:: Protothema
