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Kiev ready for compromise on prisoner exchange — foreign minister

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Vadim Pristayko said that "the upcoming prisoner exchange requires a more flexible approach"

KIEV, December 12. /TASS/. Kiev is ready for serious compromise on prisoner exchange, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Vadim Pristayko said on Thursday.

"Ukraine is ready to agree to serious compromises in order to get back as many our people as possible," Pristayko told UNIAN news agency. "I don't want to talk about numbers becuase they are not as simple as last time. These numbers are not concrete. The upcoming exchange requires a more flexible approach, and we will have an unequal number of people. It just depends on what the limit is for negotiators," he added.

Pristayko confirmed that prisoner exchange will be completed by the end of 2019 after being coordinated at the session of the Contact Group on December 18.

One of the results of the Normandy Four (Russia, Ukraine, France, Germany) summit in Paris on December 9 was an agreement to carry out a prisoner exchange on the "all for all" basis until the end of the year. The last prisoner exchange was carried out in December 2017. Kiev than handed over 233 people to Donetsk and Lugansk, while Donetsk and Lugansk handed over 73 people to Kiev.