Contents tagged with POWs

  • Kuchma: Prisoner exchange before Orthodox Easter failed due to changes in the position of separatists

    Leonid Kuchma, the representative of Ukraine in the Trilateral Contact Group and the former Ukrainian President, said that the exchange of prisoners before the Easter holidays was disrupted due to a change in the separatists’ position.

    "They are not interested in this. They always want to get some mechanisms to influence Ukraine, the mood of the people," he told journalists in Kiev on Friday, Interfax-Ukraine reported.

    Kuchma said in this regard everything depends on the position of the …

  • Herashchenko: 115 Ukrainian servicemen are still being held in the Donbas

    The First Deputy Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada, Iryna Herashchenko, said that sanctions against Russia should stay in force until the Minsk Agreements are fully implemented.

    Separatists in the Donbas are holding 115 Ukrainian servicemen prisoner. 12 political prisoners are now in the Russian Federation prisons while 684 people are missing. Herashchenko, who is also the Presidential Envoy on the Peaceful Settlement of the Situation in Donetsk and Luhansk Regions, published the information on …

  • Kiev accuses separatists of blocking the exchange of prisoners

    During the meeting of the humanitarian subgroup of Trilateral Contact Group in Minsk on Wednesday, March 23rd, representatives of the self-proclaimed republics of the Donbas were "debating absolutely destructively," said a spokeswoman for Ukraine, MP Iryna Herashchenko, as reported by Deutsche Welle. "They, yet again, artificially understate the number of hostages on their territories. We are painstakingly collecting information about the locations of prisoners, whom neither the mission of the …

  • SSU: 128 Ukrainian prisoners are being held in the Donbas and on Russian territory

    According to Yuriy Tandit, the Adviser to the Chairman of the Security Service of Ukraine (SSU), 128 Ukrainian prisoners are being held in the breakaway regions of eastern Ukraine and on Russian territory, as reported by UKRINFORM.

    "The list that we submitted (during the negotiations of the Trilateral Contact group in Minsk - Ed.) includes 128 names. It includes not only our people in Donetsk and Luhansk, but also those who are on the territory of Russia," Tandit said.

    He noted that women and …

  • Poroshenko pardoned Russian citizen to ensure release of imprisoned Ukrainian journalist

    The President of Ukraine, Petro Poroshenko, has pardoned a Russian citizen in order to ensure the release of Ukrainian journalist, Maria Varfolomeyeva.  This was announced on Facebook by the Press Secretary of the Head of State, Svyatoslav Tsegolko.

    “The militants continuously delayed or refused to make the exchange.  With the aim of facilitating the release of Varfolomeyeva, the President pardoned a Russian citizen who was transferred to the occupied territory today,” Tsegolko said.

    Irina …

  • Freed Ukrainian POWs tell of harsh conditions of imprisonment

    Recently freed Ukrainian POWs said that the conditions of their captivity were very difficult.

    According to the 112 Ukraine media outlet, they had to pay for all of the negative attitudes that separatists have towards the Ukrainian Armed Forces and Ukraine overall.

    The exchange of prisoners took place on Saturday in Marinka, where the former prisoners Sergey Garnaga, Sergey Dmitruk and Alexander Makuha are still located.

    Red Cross representatives have communicated with them and said that …

  • Four Ukrainian prisoners of war released by pro-Russian separatists

    Pro-Russian separatists released four Ukrainian prisoners of war on Saturday, as stated by Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko on Twitter.

    "Just now Irina Herashchenko reported that three more Ukrainian heroes were freed from captivity by the militants. Glory to Ukraine!”  the President wrote.

    Shortly after Poroshenko's announcement, a fourth Ukrainian serviceman was released.

    As RIA Novosti reported, the authorities in Kiev released five separatists and a priest in exchange for the …

  • Herashchenko: 140 Ukrainians Held by Donbas Militants

    Militants of the so-called Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) and Luhansk People’s Republic (LPR) are holding 140 Ukrainian prisoners, many of whom are sick or wounded. This information was posted on the Facebook of the Commissioner of the President for the Peaceful Settlement of the Situation in Donetsk and Luhansk regions, Iryna Herashchenko.

    "We presented the full information on all our efforts to release the hostages—according to SBU the number is 140 Ukrainians—among whom are many people …