MOSCOW, September 12 (RIA Novosti) - Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said Friday that the local militia have released 57 Ukrainian prisoners who were captured during the standoff between the independent supporters and Kiev forces.
"The negotiations resulted in the release of 21 Ukrainian prisoners yesterday and 36 more today," Poroshenko said in his post on Twitter.
Earlier, the Ukrainian president said that about 700 captives had already been handed over to Kiev by the eastern Ukrainian self-defense forces, and some 500 more would be released by the end of the week.
The contact group on the settlement of the Ukrainian crisis, comprising Kiev officials, representatives of southeastern Ukraine, Russia and the OSCE, met on September 5 in the Belarusian capital of Minsk in an effort to work out a way to resolve the crisis.
Representatives of the Ukrainian government and the self-proclaimed republics of Luhansk and Donetsk agreed to a ceasefire and reiterated their commitment to the plan. The ceasefire agreement came into force at 6 p.m. local time (15:00 GMT). The parties also agreed on an "all to all" prisoner exchange.
Participants of the contact group on Ukrainian reconciliation have signed a protocol of 12 provisions.
The Minsk protocol also entails Ukraine to adopt a law on a special status for the Donetsk and Luhansk regions in addition to holding early elections.
