Ukraine prisoner swap announced under battered truce

Pro-Russian rebels said they will swap prisoners with the Ukrainian side Saturday as part of a battered truce the West hopes will cool a deadly conflict that has poisoned relations with Moscow. Around 40 prisoners on each side – some of them wounded – are to be handed over, with the exchange to take place deep in rebel territory, in the city of Luhansk, the rebels’ official for human rights, Daria Morozova said. Journalists were put in a convoy carrying the rebels’ prisoners from the separatist stronghold of Donetsk to Lugansk.

Today there will be an exchange between us and the Ukrainian side.

Daria Morozova, rebels’ official for human rights

There was no immediate confirmation of the swap from the Ukrainian side, though smaller exchanges have taken place in recent weeks with little fanfare. If it goes ahead Saturday, the prisoner exchange would be a rare act of compliance with a UN-backed truce that has been repeatedly violated since coming into effect February 15. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Saturday the United States and its allies were not prepared to play games with Russia and are discussing additional sanctions against Moscow over its role in eastern Ukraine

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