First Deputy Speaker of the Ukrainian Parliament and Ukraine's envoy to the Trilateral Contact Group's (TCG) humanitarian subgroup Iryna Gerashchenko has said the Russian side has refused to participate in a video conference call on the release of hostages. She also criticized the OSCE’s representative to the TCG Toni Frisch for his passivity.

"The Russians and their puppets in the occupied Donbas areas finally refused to hold a videoconference of the humanitarian subgroup on December 29 to agree on the release of the hostages. I was forced to state the passive position of the OSCE coordinator on the humanitarian subgroup," Gerashchenko said on her Facebook page on December 28.

Gerashchenko said Russia refused to respond to the initiative, adding that for several years Russia-led occupation forces have refused to respond to queries regarding more than 70 Ukrainians held prisoners in eastern Ukraine and in Russia.