Ukraine and Russian-backed forces occupying the eastern Donbas region exchanged captives on Dec. 29 in the most controversial prisoner swap since the beginning of Russia’s war against Ukraine, a conflict that is entering its sixth year and has claimed some 14,000 lives.
Ukraine said it had received 76 people. Russian proxies in Donetsk and Luhansk said it had received 124 freed prisoners.
The exchange took place at the Mayorske crossing point that connects the government-controlled and Russian-controlled parts of Donetsk Oblast, and in the nearby Russian-controlled city of Horlivka.
Among those freed were several Ukrainian soldiers, some of whom were kept in prison for more than five years, as well as several pro-Ukrainian activists and bloggers.
But Ukrainian society is split over whether President Volodymyr Zelensky and his team were right to release people charged with crimes not related to Russia’s war in the east, including five former officers of the now disbanded Berkut police unit, charged with shooting unarmed protesters during the EuroMaidan Revolution in February 2014.
“I don’t understand why our law enforcement system, courts, and prosecutors do the bidding of (Russian President) Vladimir Putin to take away the killers,” Mustafa Nayem, a former lawmaker and journalist whose Facebook post helped to spark the EuroMaidan Revolution, wrote on Telegram.
“The country has to return its heroes but not at the price of diminishing the values for which these heroes fought,” said Oleg Sentsov, a writer and film director who was released from a Russian jail in September.
The preliminary agreement on the exchange was shaped in early December during talks between Zelensky, Putin, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
The final number of people included in the exchange lists were under negotiation until the very last moment.
The night before the exchange, a court in Kyiv released the five former Berkut officers amid protests by activists and the families of about 100 people killed during the EuroMaidan. The activists blocked the Lukyanivsky detention center in Kyiv, trying to prevent the Berkut officers from leaving it.
Sources in law enforcement who cannot be named because they’re not authorized to speak with the press told the Kyiv Post that Russia insisted upon the release of the five Berkut officers, in exchange for five Ukrainian soldiers who were captured by Russian-backed fighters in the Donbas.
Viktor Chumak, deputy prosecutor general, defended the exchange. “Only strong people are able to take the unpopular decisions,” he wrote on Facebook.
Ukrainian servicemen wait near the bus with Ukrainians – who were made prisoners – before a prisoner exchange between Ukraine and Russia-backed forces near the Mayorsk checkpoint on Dec. 29, 2019. (president.gov.ua) (president.gov.ua/Facebook)
How it happened
The exchange started at about 11 a.m on Dec. 29. At first, Russian-backed militants in the center of Luhansk handed over to Ukraine 25 prisoners. People were asked to get off the bus and walk to a tent for final identification.
Olga Kobtseva, the ombudsman for Russian-backed militants in Luhansk, asked them whether anybody wanted to stay in occupied Luhansk. People laughed in response to her and said “no.” “Let it be freedom,” one of those released said.
Kobtseva took away to Luhansk 63 people, handed over by Ukraine. She said that 9 people held by Ukraine as prisoners refused to go with her to occupied Luhansk, according to the Interfax news agency.
The second part of the prisoner exchange was held in Russian-controlled Horlivka. It took several hours and ended at about 4 p.m. when it was already dark.
Ukraine received 51 people and then handed 61 people over to Russian proxies, according to Daria Morozova, the ombudsman of Russian proxies in Donetsk. More than 10 Ukrainian-held prisoners refused to be sent to occupied Donetsk
Four people who were held in Donetsk prisons refused to return to the Ukrainian government-controlled side. They explained that they are Donetsk natives and wanted to stay in their city, according to Serhiy Syvokho, an advisor to the Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council.
Released by Russian proxies
The Ukrainian side received 12 captive soldiers. They included four special operations soldiers: Serhiy Hlondar and Oleksandr Korinkov, who were captured during the battle for Debaltseve in February 2015, and Serhiy Ivanchul and Ivan Deyev, captured in Luhansk Oblast in February 2017.
Tank commander Bohdan Pantiushenko had been kept in a militant prison since January 2015 when he was captured during the battle for Donetsk airport. Senior soldier Kim Duvanov was captured by Russian-backed forces in May when a car with Ukrainian soldiers drove into Russian-controlled areas.
The most famous civilian prisoner released was Stanislav Aseyev, a Ukrainian blogger, journalist, and writer, who wrote reports and opinion columns for Ukrainian media from Russian-controlled Donetsk, filing them under the pseudonym Stanislav Vasin. Aseyev was captured in Donetsk in June 2017, accused of spying for Ukraine and sentenced to 15 years imprisonment.
Olena Sorokina, a civilian and resident of Pervomaisk city, exited a bus with the Ukrainian national emblem and the words “My country is Ukraine” handwritten with pen on her white jacket. Sorokina was captured in autumn 2018 by Russian-backed militants in the center of Luhansk, according to Hromadske.
Ukrainians – who were made prisoners – eat greeting cake after being released from captivity during a prisoner exchange between Ukraine and Russia-backed forces near the Mayorsk checkpoint on Dec. 29, 2019. (president.gov.ua/Facebook)
Released by Ukraine
Ukraine handed over to Russian-backed forces the Russian nationals Ruslan Gadzhiyev and Oleg Doronin, who fought against Ukraine in Russia’s war, according to lawyer Valentyn Rybin.
Ukraine also handed over to Russian proxies Rafael Lusvarghi, a Brasilian national, who fought on the Russian side and was later captured by Ukrainian law enforcement in Kyiv. He had been sentenced to 13 years in prison.
But many on the list were people not related to the war in the Donbas.
The Ukrainian side released five former Berkut police officers facing murder charges: Oleh Yanishevsky, Serhiy Zinchenko, Pavlo Abroskin, Serhiy Tamtura, and Oleksandr Marynchenko.
Ukraine also released several pro-Russian activists from Odesa. They include Serhiy Dolzhenkov, who is accused of inspiring the bloody fights against pro-Ukrainian activists in Odesa on May 2, 2014, which lead to clashes in which dozens of people were killed.
Controversy
In 2014, the first year of the war, both sides released hostages on the ground, based on mutual agreement between military commanders, or for ransom payments.
But since the issue of prisoner exchanges have become part of the ongoing peace talks in Minsk, the prisoner swaps became a political issue and nearly halted completely.
The last big prisoner exchange between Ukraine and Russian proxies in the Donbas took place on Dec. 27, 2017. Ukraine received 73 prisoners, predominantly soldiers, and handed over 233 pro-Russian militants or activists in return.
Since being elected in May, Zelensky claimed that the release of Ukrainians from Russian and pro-Russian jails was a major issue for him. During his first phone conversation with Putin in July, he negotiated the first exchange.
On Sept. 7, Russia released 35 Ukrainians kept in its prisons in exchange for 35 Russians and pro-Russian militants kept by Ukraine. In that instance, Ukraine agreed to release Volodymyr Tsemakh, a pro-Russian fighter who was a key witness of Russia’s alleged downing of flight MH-17 with the use of Buk missile system. Many argued that this decision would undermine international efforts to hold Russia accountable for that crime.
Critics say that Zelensky’s concern for Ukrainian hostages can be exploited and allows the Kremlin to demand new concessions and the release of notorious criminals who aren’t connected to the conflict in the Donbas.
After the exchange, there are still more than 100 Ukrainian hostages kept by Russian proxies in the Donbas, based on the previous estimations of by the SBU state security service.
There are 113 Ukrainian nationals currently kept in Russia, according to the office of Ukrainian ombudswoman. They include 89 Crimean Tatars, the indigenous people of Crimea, which was illegaly seized by Russia in 2014 and has been under military occupation ever since.
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