Kiev confirms start of prisoner swap in Donbass

Kiev and the self-proclaimed Donbass republics have started their prisoner exchange procedure at the Mayorskoye checkpoint, the office of the Ukrainian president confirmed on Sunday.

"The process of releasing detained persons has started at the Mayorskoye entry/exit checkpoint in the Donetsk Region," the Ukrainian president’s office said in its Telegram-channel.

Ukraine’s Verkhovna Rada human rights envoy Lyudmila Denisova also reported about the start of the prisoner swap, adding that her representatives were at the scene of the event "to monitor the observance of the rights and freedoms of Ukrainian citizens during the handover of servicemen to the territory controlled by the Ukrainian government."

Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) ombudswoman Darya Morozova announced earlier on Sunday that the first prisoner swap over the past two years had started between the self-proclaimed Donbass republics and Kiev near Gorlovka.

"The swap has started," Morozova said.

The prisoner swap is taking place at the Gorlovka-Mayorskoye point of entry/exit on the line of contact between the Donetsk People’s Republic and Ukraine.

As the ombudswoman said, the persons held in custody in the DPR as a result of the armed conflict and subject to the swap had set off for the so-called grey zone - the territory between the positions of the conflicting parties - to finalize the exchange procedure.

Donetsk and Lugansk are set to hand over 55 persons to Kiev and expect to receive 87 people, Morozova said on Saturday.