A massive prisoner exchange took place on December 29. From prisons of self-proclaimed “republics” 76 Ukrainians returned home, Ukraine handed over 127 people to the so-called “LPR” and “DNR”. The exchange of prisoners was held at the Checkpoint “Majorskoe” in Donetsk region. From there the released Ukrainian citizens were taken by plane to Kyiv – their relatives were waiting for them at the airport “Boryspil”.

According to the Adviser to the Secretary of the National Security and Defence Council Serhiy Sivokho, the agreement was about 80 people, but 4 people decided to stay on the territory outside Ukraine’s control. The list of released military and civilians who returned to the territory controlled by the Ukrainian government has been published on the SBU website.

Ukraine will not publish the full list of persons transferred in exchange for the release of 76 Ukrainians from the captivity of Russian hybrid forces in Donbass. This position was expressed in a comment to Radio Svoboda by the Ukrainian representative in the humanitarian subgroup of the trilateral contact group, ex-ombudswomen Valeriya Lutkovska.

According to Radio Svoboda, among those whom the Ukrainian side handed over to the ORDLO, five former employees of the Berkut Company accused of killing 48 people and wounding 80 others on 20 February 2014 at the Institute Street. Besides, the list also includes defendants in the case of the explosion near the Palace of Sports in Kharkiv, which killed four people.

The list of persons extradited by Ukraine was published by Yuriy Butusov, editor of the Censor.net portal.

Sources: Radio Svoboda (1, 2), Hromadske, SBU