Kyiv ready to start hostages swap in June, but TCG failed to agree in Minsk due to Russia and ORDLO

18:23, 24.05.2017 1 min read

First Deputy Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada, a representative of Ukraine in the humanitarian subgroup of the Trilateral Contact Group (TCG) Iryna Gerashchenko has said that the Ukrainian side is ready for the beginning of the hostage swap process as early as June this year, but at the TCG meeting on Wednesday the corresponding agreement was failed due to the positions of representatives of certain regions of Donetsk and Luhansk regions.

"The Ukrainian side once again noted that we demand the release of all those who are illegally detained and are ready to hand over for their release all those who are on the lists of the ORDLO and where the Ukrainian legislation allows the pardoning procedure. We are ready to release them in June. The main thing is the consent and the desire of the other party, which have not been demonstrated today," Gerashchenko wrote on her Facebook page on Wednesday following the results of the TCG meeting in Minsk.