KIEV, February 20. /TASS/. Militias in the self-proclaimed republics in the south-east of Ukraine hold prisoner 110 Ukrainian troops after the Debaltsevo battle, spokesman for the Ukrainian General Staff Vladislav Seleznyov told a news conference on Friday.
According to him, the fate of 51 of the total 82 soldiers that had earlier been regarded missing has been ascertained. According to preliminary information, 13 soldiers were killed and 157 wounded, Seleznyov said.
He said that many Ukrainian hardware pieces were destroyed in the hostilities.
"All the equipment in running condition was moved to specified places, and the rest - destroyed," the official said.
Authorities of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) previously said they were ready to "strictly comply with the Minsk agreements’ implementation, including the prisoner exchange process according to the "all for all" formula."
In particular, DPR chief negotiator in the Contact Group on Ukraine’s crisis settlement Denis Pushilin said that the republic was ready to conduct direct negotiations on the exchange of the Ukrainian soldiers taken prisoner in the Debaltsevo encirclement "with Kiev’s representative, leader of the Ukrainian Choice public movement Viktor Medvedchuk who has approved himself as a competent and fair negotiator."
The Ukrainian Choice press service said for its part that consultations on the issue of prisoner exchange according to the "all for all" scheme have been going daily since February 13. "We officially confirm that the exchange of documents, lists has been going on daily since the 13th [of February] and the process of the "all for all" format exchange is being prepared," the press service said.