The Ukrainian government and pro-Russian separatists on December 27 carried out the largest exchange of prisoners since 2014 near the town of Horlivka, in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, as part of the Minsk agreement.Videos shared to the Facebook page for Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko showed him dressed in military fatigues as he greeted returning prisoners near Kramatorsk. The president tweeted that 74 detainees had been returned to Kiev-controlled territory and praised the roles of German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron in facilitating the swap.The Russian Interfax news agency reported that 233 captives were transferred by the Kiev government to separatist-controlled territory, though the Kiev Post put that number at 237.According to the Kiev Post, 29 prisoners refused to return to the separatist-controlled side, and another “40 who had already served their sentence and were released did not show up for the swap.” Credit: Petro Poroshenko via Storyful
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko holds a press conference in Vinnytsia announcing the end of the anti-terror operation in Donbass in May. It will be replaced with a military force.