Luhansk People's Republic Ready For 19-for-107 Prisoner Exchange With Kiev - Official

The authorities of the self-proclaimed Luhansk People's Republic are ready to hand over 19 prisoners to Kiev in exchange for 107 supporters of the republic, LPR representative in the working group on humanitarian issues of the Contact Group on Donbas Olga Kobtseva told Sputnik on Wednesday

LUHANSK (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 17th July, 2019) The authorities of the self-proclaimed Luhansk People's Republic are ready to hand over 19 prisoners to Kiev in exchange for 107 supporters of the republic, LPR representative in the working group on humanitarian issues of the Contact Group on Donbas Olga Kobtseva told Sputnik on Wednesday.

"We confirmed our readiness to exchange the persons held according to the principle of 'all confirmed for all confirmed.' At the moment, it is confirmed that 107 supporters of the republic are being held in Ukraine, and 19 [Ukrainian prisoners] in the LPR," Kobtseva said.

The last prisoner exchange between Kiev and the Donbas took place in late December 2017.

The parties to the conflict stated that the process of releasing the persons held would continue.

In April 2014, the Ukrainian government launched an offensive against Luhansk and neighboring Donetsk regions, which proclaimed independence after what they considered a coup in Ukraine two months earlier.

Since September 2014, peace in the region has been mediated by the Minsk contact group, which was created after the Normandy format talks. Despite the fact that several documents on de-escalation measures have been adopted over this time, the warring parties continue to violate the ceasefire.