Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Pavlo Klimkin expects that the exchange of hostages will take place in the coming weeks and will comprise the maximum possible number of Ukrainian citizens.

"Now there are ongoing consultations as regards when and what way [they will be exchanged] ... I deliberately won't unveil any details and I apologize, this is a very sensitive process and any word that can be wrongly interpreted, can prevent it. We very much hope that this will happen in the coming weeks. I won't tell about a more exact date and very much hope that this will be extended to the maximum possible number (hostages)," he told reporters in Kyiv on Saturday.

The foreign minister said that there are legal aspects in the matter of exchanging hostages. He recalled that he spoke about this with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Vienna.

"I wanted to discuss them [legal issues] with Lavrov, since if this legal aspect is used by somebody to interfere with this process, it will be a real harm," Klimkin said.

He recalled that some of the citizens imprisoned in the territory controlled by Ukraine do not want to return to the occupied territories, "therefore there must be some verification procedure, and it must be done with the help of our international friends, international bodies, the way it will be done , where there is a role of the OSCE, of the International Red Cross."