Commenting on the new prisoner swap offer, Tetyana Ivanova, Ukraine’s representative on TCG Minsk group, told Ukraina 24 TV channel that

‘All this time Ukraine has urged the DNR/LNR to submit their prisoner list in response [to our list] and, at last, in April we got their list. Now the work is underway to clarify and correct these lists.’

She expressed her cautious optimism about the swap deal in the works.

“It has finally happened and it is a serious step that gives hope that we will make the [prisoner] exchange happen, said the Ukrainian TCG representative.

Tetyana Ivanova  though failed to give the exact numbers of the prisoners set to be released by each side.

“In the last meeting there was a proposal for Ukraine to accept 4 prisoners. It was not within the prisoner swap deal, it was kind of their good will, and the head of Ukrainian representatives said that we were eager to have those men back, and others whoever [the other side] decide to pass over to us. Unfortunately, now it is interpreted in a different way. It is premature to tell how many people we will free and how many will be returned here ,” stressed Ivanova.

The Russian representatives on TCG group earlier blocked the issue of prisoner swap.