Donbas understating prisoners' numbers, hampering swap process, Kyiv says
KYIV. Dec 7 (Interfax) - Ukraine is ready to hand over to Donetsk and Luhansk as many people as they request, but the opposite side's data are heavily understated, the Ukrainian representative in the humanitarian subgroup of the Contact Group, Iryna Herashchenko, said.
"We insist on the release of the maximum number of hostages before the New Year holidays. Today the breakaway areas of the Donetsk region said they hold captive 42 Ukrainians. We suggested immediately releasing 228 of those citizens (in cases where permitted by the laws and the legal field) whom they requested, for the sake of the immediate release of these 42 Ukrainians [...] And then continue working to search and release all others. In reply we heard that the breakaway areas of the Donetsk region are ready to release only eight," she wrote on her Facebook page after a humanitarian subgroup meeting.
Ukraine is working to secure the release of its 42 citizens, among whom are "those who have been held captive illegally for two years," Herashchenko said.
As for the breakaway areas of the Luhansk region, the situation here is more difficult: "they have confirmed the presence of just six prisoners, while demanding amnesty and release of over 440 people," she said. "Very difficult talks, but we must look for a compromise," the humanitarian subgroup representative added.
Furthermore, at the meeting the Ukrainian side confirmed that Ukraine's penitentiary institutions are open to visits by representatives from international humanitarian missions, she said. "For your understanding: throughout this year the ICRC [International Committee of the Red Cross] made over 70 visits to 21 institutions of the Ukrainian penitentiary system. And of course the mission may further continue its important job," the Ukrainian deputy speaker said.
"The Ukrainian side is ready for a compromise and humanism on the issue of hostage release just to unblock this process. For example, following the official OSCE [Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe] request, the measure of restraint has recently been changed for a man accused of crimes relating to the conflict on the ground of his serious illness," Herashchenko said.
Ukraine has asked representatives of the breakaway areas of the Donetsk region "to also show humanism" by replacing the measure of restraint for the historian Ihor Kozlovskyi and five teenagers being held "for subversions" so that they can go home to their families, who live in Donetsk.