Zelenskyy Expects First Results Of Prisoner Swap Dialogue With Russia In Coming Days

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Friday that he expected progress in the issue of prisoner exchange with Russia to happen in the coming days

KIEV (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 23rd August, 2019) Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Friday that he expected progress in the issue of prisoner exchange with Russia to happen in the coming days.

"It has been two months since I started working on this, let me do my job. I promised the people of Ukraine that we will return the prisoners, return the sailors and stop the war. I am personally working on this ... We are waiting for the results step by step, the first results should be in the coming days," Zelenskyy said, as quoted by the UNN news agency.

Expectations of a prisoner swap have been on the rise after Russia's Kommersant daily, citing its sources, reported on Wednesday that Moscow could hand Ukrainian sailors detained during the Kerch Strait incident last fall back to Ukraine in exchange for Russian nationals held in Ukrainian jails.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, however, later poured cold water on such reports, saying such an arrangement would require a lot of prep work.

Meanwhile, the lawyer of former Ukrainian Berkut riot police officer, Alexander Sattarov, said on Thursday that a Russian-Ukrainian prisoner swap was scheduled for August 28-29.

Russian ombudswoman Tatiana Moskalkova, in turn, arrived in Kiev earlier on Friday. Yet, the aim of her visit remains unknown.