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Developments in eastern Ukraine

Kiev hands DPR 12 captives - DPR Defense Ministry

"We took our people, tomorrow we will hand Ukraine its captives," the Donetsk News Agency quoted a ministry spokesman as saying

MOSCOW, August 26. /TASS/. The exchange of prisoners between Ukrainian troops and militiamen of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) on Wednesday resulted in the handing of 12 people to the DPR, the DPR Defense Ministry reported Wednesday.

"We took our people, tomorrow we will hand Ukraine its captives," the Donetsk News Agency quoted a ministry spokesman as saying.

Prisoner exchanges between militiamen of the self-proclaimed DPR and Lugansk People’s Republic (LPR) on the one hand and Ukraine's troops on the other in line with the "all for all" formula are a key point of the Package of Measures on implementation of the Minsk Agreements, which was signed February 12 in Minsk.

The Package also envisions "pardon and amnesty through enacting the law banning prosecution and punishment" of citizens in connection with events in Donbass.

Massive shelling of residential neighborhoods, including with the use of aviation, has killed thousands and led to a humanitarian disaster in east Ukraine since Kiev in April 2014 announced the start of an "antiterrorism operation" there.

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Eastern Ukraine

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Ukraine lost best fighters near Artyomovsk, retired general says

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Destroyed TV tower in Kharkov carried Ukrainian air defense coordination device — official

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Russian peacekeepers heading for temporary deployment centers in Armenia

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Top Hungarian diplomat warns US-NATO-EU competition in Ukraine could spark WWIII

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