The Ukrainian President's office broadcast live from the Majorske checkpoint on the front line in the southeast of the country. It must happen here who wants to get from the self-proclaimed "People's Republic" Donetsk, which is occupied by pro-Russian fighters, to the area controlled by Ukrainian soldiers or vice versa. On Sunday, both sides received dozens of prisoners in the heavily guarded area: the pro-Russian separatists released 76 people from their camps and prisons in the Donetsk and Luhansk areas, and 127 people were released in Ukraine.
Cameras showed how mothers hugged their sons on the Ukrainian side, hugged women in army uniforms, handed over phones to them so they could call their families. A woman had written "My home - Ukraine" in large letters on her white jacket with a blue pen. According to Ukrainian media reports, this is Olena Sorokina, an owner of a pet shop in Pervomajske from the Luhansk region. Her fate had only been revealed by the UN in late 2018, and local security officials had arrested Sorokina. Journalist Stanislaw Asejew from Radio Free Europe is among those released. All of them will now be flown to Kiev, where they should arrive in the evening.
Who is prisoner
The fact that the prisoners are now free is also an important step for their families - especially shortly before the New Year, which for most Ukrainians and Russians is a very important if not the most important festival of the year. The exchange on Sunday is the largest in two years, but not in the "all against all" format. President Volodymyr Selenskyj had long promised to quickly bring all the prisoners home.
But already at the Ukraine summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin in the presence of German Chancellor Angela Merkel and France's Head of State Emmanuel Macron (meeting in Normandy) on December 9, it became clear that there was no agreement as to who was a prisoner as a result of the war in Donbass applies. In Paris, Putin only spoke of an exchange of "all agreed for all agreed" prisoners - which has now happened, but only after tough negotiations through the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, OSCE for short. According to a report by the Russian newspaper "Kommersant", some prisoners did not want to be handed over to the "People's Republics", which were not recognized internationally.
In the video: exchange of prisoners
Alexander Ermochenko / REUTERS
For Kiev, this exchange should only be the beginning of further handovers. According to Ukraine, dozens of political prisoners are still held in prisons on the Crimean Black Sea peninsula annexed by Moscow and in Russia, as well as dozens of soldiers and civilians in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions occupied by pro-Russian fighters. The Ukrainian secret service SBU speaks of more than 150 people.
Protests in Kiev - Five Berkut fighters handed over
Once again, Selenskyj had to pay a high price so that soldiers, activists, journalists and civilians were often released after years of imprisonment. Ukraine also handed over five fighters from the Berkut special forces to the pro-Russian separatists, who brutally attacked demonstrators during the 2014 Euromaidan protests in Kiev. At that time 100 people died and dozens were injured. When news came out on Saturday that the five Berkut men would be released without judgment, relatives of the Maidan victims tried unsuccessfully to block access to a prison in Kiev where the Berkut officers were sitting.
This shows once again how unevenly the war is waged in eastern Ukraine. Without concessions from the Kremlin, which supports the separatists financially and militarily with billions of rubles and ideologically, the conflict will hardly progress.
Already at the prisoner exchange in September, then 35 against 35 between Ukraine and Russia, Moscow had asked for the former commander, who was an important eyewitness to the MH 17 passenger plane that was shot down in July 2014, for the release of Kerch's Ukrainian seafarers and director Oleh Senzow is. According to Dutch investigators, the machine was hit by a Buk type missile that originated in Russia. Commander Vladimir Tsemach, a member of a pro-Russian air force unit in Donetsk, was released. At the time, Selenskyj called this decision "complicated".
He is now criticized for denying the relatives of the victims of the Maidan the desire for justice by releasing the Berkut fighters.
The small successes that he can now achieve in the conflict in eastern Ukraine after years of standstill count for the Ukrainian president. His approach can be called pragmatic, but it is also finite because he always depends on Putin's courtesy.
Moscow has no interest in "updating" the Minsk Agreement
Selenskyj actually wants to "update" the Minsk Agreement to finally find peace after more than five years in the Donbass war with around 14,000 dead and 2.8 million refugees. When it comes to Kiev, Ukraine regains control of the eastern border with Russia before elections take place in the breakaway areas. Moscow is not ready for this: Putin wants to implement only the Minsk agreement, after which there should be elections. This is how the Kremlin wants to secure influence in Ukraine - and it currently does not look as if it is deviating from this line. In contrast to Selenskyj, Putin is not under pressure to deliver results as promised as soon as possible.
In April, the two presidents plan to meet in Berlin for their second Normandy summit. However, there is still some work to be done in the meantime, including an armistice that has actually existed for years according to the Minsk Agreement. According to the Paris declaration, it should now be implemented by the end of this year.
But the OSCE continues to report dozens of explosions and ceasefire violations every day. Selenskyj, who repeatedly emphasized the importance of the prisoner exchange and ceasefire for him, had sounded less optimistic in Paris. He said: "I honestly don't know how the situation can be controlled so far."
Assistance: Katja Lutska, Kiev