Russia ignoring Ukraine’s proposals on release of hostages

Ukraine’s representative in the humanitarian subgroup of the Trilateral Contact Group, the First Vice Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, Iryna Gerashchenko, informed this on her Facebook page

"The Ukrainian side in the Trilateral Contact Group proposed to hold a videoconference of the humanitarian group on December 27 in order to try again to agree on the issue of the release of hostages. We handed over concrete proposals and lists and offered to release hostages in the format of 22 for 22, 39 for 11 and 33 for 8 on January 5, on the eve of Christmas. So far, we have not received any response from the Russian Federation and representatives of separate districts of Donetsk and Luhansk regions (ORDLO)," she wrote.

At the same time, Gerashchenko noted that the Ukrainian side expected a more active and constructive position from OSCE Coordinator in the humanitarian subgroup of the Trilateral Contact Group (TCG), Ambassador Toni Frisch. "He proposed to hold a conference on December 29, not December 27 (we agree to hold a conference on December 29, of course, but we expect the OSCE coordinator to have a more interested position and greater initiative in solving humanitarian issues)," she added.

According to Gerashchenko, the representatives of ORDLO sent a letter in which they refused to hold a Skype conference and called the initiatives of Ukraine for the release of hostages as "PR exercise."

She also informed that she appealed to Ukraine's representative in the TCG Yevhen Marchuk to raise the issue on the release of hostages during the Skype conference of the security group on December 27 with Russia and OSCE.