Ukrainian captives should be freed within five days after heavy arms withdrawal - Poroshenko
NOVY PETRIVTSY, Kyiv region. Feb 13 (Interfax) - All Ukrainian citizens taken captive in the east of the country should be released within five days following the withdrawal of heavy weapons, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said.
"We agreed yesterday that all captives and hostages will be freed. Hundreds of Ukrainians who are currently being held in inhuman conditions should be freed within five days after the withdrawal of heavy military hardware," he said during a visit to the Ukrainian National Guard's training center in Novy Petrivtsy, Kyiv region, on Friday.
The possibility of releasing Ukrainian pilot Nadezhda Savchenko, held in Russian custody over the murder of two Russian journalists in eastern Ukraine, was also discussed at the February 12 summit of the Normandy Quartet in the Belarusian capital Minsk, Poroshenko said.
"We fiercely demand that Russia eventually allows Nadiya to return home. And we will continue to exert this pressure," the Ukrainian leader said.
The Russian president's press secretary Dmitry Peskov told Interfax on Friday that the issue of pilot Savchenko was indeed raised by President Poroshenko during the Normandy Quartet summit in Minsk and Russia made no promises, but gave explanations.