Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy informed German Chancellor Angela Merkel by phone that work was underway to form new lists for the prisoner exchange in Donbas

A militiaman of the self-declared Luhansk Peoples' Republic (LPR) have been killed in Ukrainian gunfire that targeted the Kalynove settlement, an LPR representative told Sputnik at the Joint Center for Ceasefire Control and Coordination

Ukraine has had a big year, which saw the formalization of an independent church, presidential and parliamentary elections that toppled the old political elite, continuous efforts to ensure secure energy supplies and gas transit to Europe, and the seeds sown for the country to succeed in its biggest quest of achieving peace in Donbas

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) welcomes the recent simultaneous release and transfer of detained persons between Ukraine and the self-proclaimed republics of Donetsk and Luhansk, and notes improved conditions for its access to detainees, Roger Baptiste Ruffy, the deputy head of the ICRC delegation in Ukraine, told Sputnik in an interview on Friday

The UK Foreign Office welcomed on Tuesday a recent prisoner exchange between Kiev and the self-proclaimed republics of Luhansk and Donetsk (LPR, DPR), as well as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's efforts, the office said in a statement

Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke with his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, over the phone on Tuesday and both noted the importance of the recently signed Russia-Ukraine transit deal, the Kremlin press service said