Donetsk, Dec 15 – DAN. The DPR head Alexander Zakharchenko said Kiev consciously derails the prisoners exchange.
"The Minsk processes are incapacitated, including the POW swap. On Tuesday (December 12), a video conference of the Contact Group humanitarian subgroup took place, and Kiev disrupted the talks. No breakthrough took place this year. Kiev renounced compliance with the Minsk Agreements."
Last time, the exchange between Donbass and Ukraine took place in the autumn 2016, more than a year ago. Since that time all attempts to coordinate a new swop failed as Kiev protracted talks creating problems and pretexts. The telephone call from Russian president Vladimir Putin to DPR and leaders broke the ice on November 15, as the initiative of Ukrainian special representative for humanitarian issues Viktor Medvedchuk concerning the POWs swop was discussed. Shortly after, the DPR announced it is willing for the exchange, which is to take place before the year ends. *ot