Russian Presidential Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov has confirmed that Russia and Ukraine are working on a new prisoner swap.
Read alsoZelensky's aide suggests next prisoner swap list could be agreed with Russia in a month
"You know it has long been stated by the Russian side that Russia would be glad to hold an 'all-for-all' exchange. This should be the ultimate goal. It all depends on the willingness of two sides, certain work in this context is under way," Peskov told journalists, answering a question whether the Kremlin could confirm Ukrainian representatives' statements that a new large-scale prisoner swap between Ukraine and Russia would take place next week, an UNIAN correspondent in Russia reports.
When asked whether it is an exchange between Ukraine and the Russian Federation, or Ukraine and the so-called "republics," Peskov answered: "I can't clarify anything. The work continues in this direction."
Earlier, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Vadym Prystaiko said on October 3 he hoped a new large-scale prisoner swap with Russia would take place in the coming week.
As UNIAN reported earlier, 24 Ukrainian POW sailors captured by Russian special forces near the Kerch Strait in November 2018, and 11 political prisoners were returned by Russia to Ukraine as part of a prisoner exchange on September 7. The political prisoners included Roman Sushchenko, Oleh Sentsov, Oleksandr Kolchenko, Volodymyr Balukh, Stanislav Klykh, Mykola Karpyuk, Oleksiy Syzonovych, Pavlo Hryb, Edem Bekirov, Yevhen Panov, and Artur Panov.
Meanwhile, 35 people were transferred to Russia. All of them had been convicted or being tried on various charges in Ukraine.
