KIEV, February 18. /TASS/. Kiev is poised to hold a large-scale prisoner swap with self-proclaimed eastern Ukrainian republics of Donetsk and Lugansk before the next summit of the Normandy Quartet on Ukrainian reconciliation, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Vadim Pristayko told the country’s ICTV channel.
"We plan to hold a large-scale prisoner swap before the next [Normandy Quartet] summit, he said, adding that the event was tentatively scheduled for April.
The minister said that the previous summit, held in Paris in December 2019, helped to "make progress in the issue of swaps."
"We carried out an important exchange, brining many Ukrainians home," Pristayko said.
According to Pristayko, Kiev also insists that a working group to consider the Ukrainian border control issue should be set up before the next Normandy Quartet summit.
"Last time, we manage to agree on seven provisions, and the border issue was not among them. But [Ukrainian] President [Vladimir] Zelensky raises this question. The first step, as we had earlier suggested to Russia, could be setting up a working group to consider the issue of how control over the border can be handed over to Ukraine. This group has not been set up as of now. President Zelensky will insist on considering this issue," Ukraine’s top diplomat said.
Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky told the Munich Security Conference on Saturday that his country was in talks for the return of about 200 people, captured by DPR and LPR. In his words, an agreement on the issue is at hand.