E. Ukraine prisoner exchange to take place by year end, Russian envoy says terms agreed

An international working group on the conflict in east Ukraine on Monday agreed on an exchange of prisoners to take place before the end of the year, a representative of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) said.

“The Trilateral Contact Group, with participation of representatives of certain areas of Donetsk and Lugansk regions of Ukraine, reached an agreement on a mutual release and exchange of conflict-related detainees by the end of the year,” Ambassador Martin Sajdik, the OSCE’s Special Representative to Ukraine, said, according to Reuters.

Earlier in the day, Russia’s envoy to the working group Boris Gryzlov was cited as saying that terms for the prisoner swap had been agreed.

Russia and Ukraine last swapped prisoners in September.