World leaders and foreign embassies welcomed a major prisoner exchange that took place between Ukraine and Russian proxies on Dec. 29, but they also reaffirmed that they expected justice in criminal cases relating to Ukrainians killed or injured during protests.
The exchange saw 76 Ukrainian soldiers and civilians being freed from captivity. In return, Ukraine handed over 124 former prisoners to Russian-controlled parts of the Donbas.
This prisoner swap was outlined during the Dec. 9 meeting in Paris between President Volodymyr Zelesnky, Russian President Vladimir Putin, French President Emmanuele Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
All parties agreed during those talks that the exchange would be an important step toward ending the war against Ukraine that Russia started in 2014 that has claimed more than 14,000 lives.
Macron and Merkel welcomed the exchange in a joint statement. They also stressed that “further work will still be necessary to enable the exchange of all prisoners linked to the conflict” and called on both sides to allow the International Committee for the Red Cross (ICRC) full access to those imprisoned because of the war.
There are still about 300 Ukrainians kept in the prisons of Russian proxies in the Donbas, Valeria Lutkovska, Ukraine’s humanitarian representative to the Minsk peace talks, estimated. There are also 113 Ukrainian nationals currently kept in Russia, according to the estimations of the office of the Ukrainian ombudsman.
Ukraine does not disclose the number of people it could use for exchange with Russia and Russian proxies.
The United States Embassy in Kyiv also hailed the release of captives and mentioned the “difficult choices” that Zelensky had to make in order to free them. “We stand in solidarity with our Ukrainian partners and the many Ukrainians who remain in captivity in Russia and Crimea,” the Embassy said on Twitter.
Zelensky admitted on Dec. 29 that he made Ukraine’s law enforcement release five former riot police officers accused of shooting and killing EuroMaidan protesters because it was a condition to release several soldiers captured by Russian-backed militants in the Donbas.
This decision sparked controversy in Ukraine. Many fear the EuroMaidan investigations have been jeapordized because of it.
Melinda Simmons, the British Ambassador to Ukraine, welcomed the exchange on Twitter and also said that Ukraine should not forget to ensure justice for victims of crimes during the EuroMaidan Revolution. She also mentioned cases against several pro-Russian activists who were sentenced for a terror attack against a pro-Ukrainian rally in the eastern city of Kharkiv in February 2015, in which four people were killed.
“It remains important justice is pursued for all those responsible for serious crimes, including violence against Maidan protesters, and the Kharkiv attack in 2015,” she wrote.
The European Union also said in its statement that those responsible for the EoroMaidan killings should be punished.
“We expect all accusations will continue to be investigated and the parties concerned ensure that those responsible are brought to justice,” the EU stated.
Boris Gryzlov, Russia’s representative at the Minsk peace talks, said on Dec. 29 that Ukraine had pledged to stop criminal proceedings of people it released as part of the exchange, including the five Berkut suspects.
Putin’s spokesman Dmitri Peskov in comments to journalists denied that Russia took responsibility for crimes committed by former Berkut officers and Kharkiv terrorists when it pressured Ukraine to release them. He said Putin just “used his influence and weight to facilitate the exchange.”
