Donetsk, Jan 22 – DAN. The DPR Ombudswoman Daria Morozova has thanked Russian President Vladimir Putin and the Patriarch of Moscow and all Rus Kirill for their efforts to facilitate the detainees exchange.

"We have managed to liberate our captives. First of all, I want to thank Russian President Vladimir Putin and the Patriarch of Moscow and all Rus Kirill who managed to convince the Ukrainian side of the importance of this political decision," she said at a press conference in DAN.

The prisoners swap, one of the biggest between DPR, LPR and Ukraine, took place on December 27, 2017 at a checkpoint outside Gorlovka. Ukrainian side passed 160 people to the DPR, while the Republic released 57 prisoners.

On the previous occasion, 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