Poroshenko says he communicates with Putin concerning release of hostages

18:23, 01.07.2016 1 min read

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has said that he had several conversations with Russian President Vladimir Putin on the matters related to the release of Ukrainian hostages.

"I can tell you that in the past month we had two conversations, and they focused entirely on the liberation of hostages," Poroshenko said in an interview with the Bulgarian TV channel BTV, which was aired on Friday.

He added that dozens of Ukrainians were arrested and are held in Russian prisons just because of the fact that they have Ukrainian passports.

"Hundreds of Ukrainians are held in basements in the occupied territories as hostages of the criminal authorities. Naturally, we demand the observance of the Minsk agreements, including in terms of the immediate release of the hostages. The conversations focused on the release of hostages," the president said.