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Ukrainian Orthodox Church submits new detainee lists to conflicting parties in Donbass

These lists are being checked now

KIEV, January 5. /TASS/. The Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate has submitted new detainee lists for a new swap to both sides of the armed conflict, Metropolitan Onuphrius said on Thursday at a meeting with the freed detainees in his residence at Kiev Pechersk Lavra (the Kiev Monastery of the Caves).

"We’ve submitted the lists. There are not many of them, about 10 people for 10 people (the issue concerns the next detainee swap - the Ukrainian Orthodox Church press service). These lists are being checked now. The process of identifying a person is very complicated. [A person] can be mentioned in one list and not mentioned in another. It is very important that we have reliable information. If there is some more detailed data, we ask you to send it," the Ukrainian Orthodox Church press service quoted him as saying.

The metropolitan asked the family and friends of those still waiting for release to provide exact information on the detainees to speed up the exchange process. He also affirmed that the Ukrainian Orthodox Church will not stop and will continue the negotiations until all army prisoners are released.

On December 27, 2017, 73 detainees returned to Ukraine, and 233 to the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics (the DPR and LPR). It was the largest detainee swap between the conflicting parties since 2015.

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