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Advisers to Normandy Four leaders agree on prisoner swaps within 30 days

An exact number of people for a swap has not been defined yet, the deputy chief of Ukrainian presidential staff said

KIEV, July 16. /TASS/. Foreign policy advisors to the leaders of the Normandy Four Group (Germany, France, Russia and Ukraine) agreed at their July 12 meeting in Paris that prisoner swaps would take place within a month, Vadim Pristayko, deputy chief of Ukrainian presidential staff, said at briefing in Kiev on Tuesday.

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"[They] agreed detainees would be exchanged within a month," he said. "President Zelensky spoke about the ‘ten for ten’ and ’15 for 15’ swap. In principle, we are not fixated on the number of people, as our task now is to get our guys back."

"An exact number of people for a swap has not been defined yet," Pristayko said.

The last large-scale exchange of detainees between Ukraine and the Donbass republics took place in December 2017. Back then, Kiev exchanged 233 prisoners for 73 detained Ukrainian citizens. The parties underlined that the release of prisoners was not over and they would make every effort to continue this process. However, since then, the parties have been failing to reach new agreements on mutual release and exchange of prisoners.

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