HORLIVKA (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 29th December, 2019) The prisoner exchange between Ukraine and the self-proclaimed people's republics of Luhansk (LPR) and of Donetsk (DPR) has started on Sunday in the Donbas region, a Sputnik correspondent reported.
DPR ombudswoman Daria Morozova said that LPR representatives have already left for the Ukrainian territory to start the procedure.
"We are currently at the Mayorsk checkpoint. Luhansk [representatives] have already gone to the Ukrainian territory to exchange [prisoners]. After that, a Ukrainian delegation will come here and we could be able to verify our people," Morozova told reporters.
The official added that about 20 people refused to be exchanged and wished to stay in the territory controlled by Kiev.
"We are ready to return 55 people to the Ukrainian side, they are ready to return 87, but the final figures will be based on the verification results. Twenty-two people from the Donetsk list refused to be released. According to our information, two people agreed to move to the DPR, three others agreed for the exchange, but want to stay on the Ukrainian territory. Therefore, I'll be able to say the exact numbers when we go through the list," Morozova told reporters.
She added that 80 percent of prisoners that Kiev was expected to hand over to LPR and DPR were citizens of the Kiev-controlled territories of Ukraine.
"Eighty percent of people who should be handed over by Ukraine are people who reside on the other [Ukrainian] side of the separation line � these are people from Mariupol, Krasnoarmiysk [called Pokrovsk since 2016], Kharkiv and other cities," the ombudswoman told reporters.
According to a DPR representative, so far no incidents have been recorded in the ongoing prisoner exchange process.
On December 9, the presidents of France, Germany, Russia and Ukraine held talks in the so-called Normandy format and agreed, among everything, to ensure the exchange of prisoners between Kiev and Donbas under "all-for-all" formula once the sides finalize the lists of individuals to be released and swapped.
