‘Normandy Four’ foreign ministers discuss new prisoner swap in Eastern Ukraine – Lavrov

The Russian, Ukrainian, French and German top diplomats have discussed another prisoner exchange in Donbass, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told reporters on Thursday. He made the statement following a video conference of the ‘Normandy Four’ foreign ministers on the conflict in Eastern Ukraine.

“The process of hammering out a sequence of steps is under way, because, as you know, the Minsk agreements [on the Donbass settlement] provide for all exchanges,” Lavrov said. “However, in practical terms, it turned out that it is necessary to identify everyone first before exchanging [them] all.”

Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said on Thursday that Kiev and Moscow were “still far” from implementing the ‘all for all’ formula, adding that the two sides should move forward, Reuters reports. “Russia and Ukraine have to continue [their] cooperation,” Kuleba told an online briefing after the conversation with his counterparts.