Ukraine offered at a meeting of the Trilateral Contact Group's humanitarian subgroup in Minsk on April 18 to hand 23 Russians convicted for crimes against Ukraine over to the Russian side in exchange for Ukrainian hostages kept in Russia, however, the Russian representatives ignored the offer.
"I once again stressed the Ukrainian side's readiness to give the Russian Federation as quickly as possible 23 Russians convicted of crimes against [Ukraine's] territorial integrity in exchange for Ukrainians in Russia. We did not receive feedback," Ukraine's envoy to the Trilateral Contact Group's humanitarian subgroup Iryna Gerashchenko wrote on Facebook after the meeting. "On the other hand, representatives of ORDLO [the two self-proclaimed republics in Donbas] continue to include these Russians in their lists as members of the 'militia' residing in the 'young republics.' The Russian Federation has so far shown no interest in its citizens it sent out to Ukraine."
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Therefore, there is no progress in the release of the Ukrainian hostages.
"They do not confirm information about dozens of our citizens, neither do they provide updates on them, but they persistently demand extraditing former Berkut riot police officers and others who are not covered by the provisions of the Minsk agreements. Therefore, we will continue to work here to arrive at a compromise and bring about a rapprochement of positions to succeed, "she summed up.
As UNIAN reported earlier, Ukraine on December 27 exchanged 233 convicts in relation to the Donbas war for 73 Ukrainian civil hostages and prisoners of war.
