“The United States welcomes yesterday’s exchange between the government of Ukraine and Russia-led forces in eastern Ukraine of more than 300 detainees. This exchange is one step toward implementation of the Minsk agreements. We once again call on the sides to fully implement their Minsk commitments including through a true ‘all-for-all’ detainee exchange; a full ceasefire; the withdrawal of heavy weapons; safe and secure access for OSCE Special Monitoring Mission monitors; and humanitarian access to the conflict zone,” reads the statement published on the U.S. State Department website.
Read alsoBig swapThe speaker has also recalled that U.S. Secretary of State Tillerson told Foreign Minister Lavrov in their phone call this week that it is also important for Russia to return its representatives to the Joint Center on Control and Coordination.
As UNIAN reported earlier, on December 27, a prisoner exchange was completed with Ukraine having released 233 convicts detained on Donbas war-related charges and serving their sentence in Ukrainian prisons, and Russian-led militants having freed more than 70 Ukrainian hostages.
