Ukrainian Choice – Right of the People NGO leader Viktor Medvedchuk has said it is currently impossible to exchange all prisoners and expects the first stage of the swap to take place according to the "306 for 74" formula.

"The Minsk agreements provide for exchanging prisoners "all for all." There are today 386 persons held in Ukraine sought by the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics (DPR/LPR). There are currently 157 persons sought by Ukraine in DPR/LPR, of whom 94 have been confirmed. However, Ukraine can not carry out the exchange because of legislation. So we can't exchange all these people, while DPR/LPR want to exchange everyone," Medvedchuk told the Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper in an interview published on Thursday.

He added that his appeal to Russian President Vladimir Putin was intended to facilitate a proportional exchange, as a first step within the "all for all" framework.

"Therefore, in line with this proposition, which Putin and Russian Orthodox Church Patriarch Kirill supported, we are counting on DPR/LPR releasing 74 persons in exchange for 306 persons held in Ukraine," Medvedchuk said.