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Ukraine's envoy vows all POWs in Donbass will be freed during stage two of prisoner swap

The largest exchange of prisoners of war since the outbreak of the armed civil conflict began on Wednesday

© Valery Matytsin/TASS

MOSCOW, December 27. /TASS/. All the prisoners in Donbass will be released during stage two of the current prisoner exchange when the "everyone for everyone" formula is applied as stipulated by the Minsk accords, Viktor Medvedchuk, Ukraine’s representative in the humanitarian workgroup of the Ukraine Contact Group, told Channel One Russia on Wednesday.

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Representatives of Donbass republics and Kiev begin prisoner swap

"I think all these provisions should necessarily be fulfilled and all of them [prisoners] should return home," Medvedchuk said, adding "There will be stage two of the exchange and then the principle suggesting ‘everyone for everyone’ will be implemented."

The largest exchange of prisoners of war since the outbreak of the armed civil conflict began on Wednesday on the Line of Contact, which separates the pro-Kiev armed units and the self-defense forces of the self-proclaimed unrecognized Donetsk and Lugansk republics.

It took place near the city of Gorlovka. The initial arrangement suggested Kiev would turn 306 POWs over to the republics while the latter would release 74 persons in all.

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