Kuleba urges Lavrov to release Ukrainians held in Russia and Crimea
Kuleba said this during an online briefing on Thursday, April 30, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.
“Of course, we paid attention to the issue of detainee exchanges and welcomed the exchanges that had already taken place. But we are still far from implementing the "all-for-all" format, so we need to move forward. Russia and Ukraine should continue to interact on this issue. Taking advantage of the Normandy format conversation, I emphasized the need to release the Ukrainians held in the territory of the Russian Federation and in the occupied Crimea, and urged my Russian colleague to work actively with the aim of releasing them,” he said.
Kuleba added that for his part he confirmed his readiness for cooperation so that Ukrainians would return home not only from the occupied areas of Donetsk and Luhansk regions, but also from the Russian Federation and the occupied Crimea.
As reported, 20 Ukrainian citizens, who were held in the temporarily occupied territories of Donetsk and Luhansk regions, returned to government-controlled areas as a result of a mutual release on April 16. Instead, 14 citizens left for the occupied territories.
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