Several dozens of people on the Ukrainian side, who have served their terms and have been released from custody, did not show up for the prisoner exchange in Donbas, Hromadske said.

"Forty-three people who were supposed to be among the 306 hostages on the Ukrainian side have served their terms and were released from custody, and therefore they did not come to the exchange," Hromadske reported, citing information provided by Human Rights Commissioner Valeria Lutkovska.

The journalists said some of the people who have come to the exchange are refusing to return to the territories of the Luhansk and Donetsk regions uncontrolled by Kyiv. "There are some 10-15 of them. Lutkovska said every hostage will be asked in the presence of Red Cross officials if they want to return to the territories uncontrolled by Ukraine," the report said.