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Kiev swaps war prisoners with militia

Xinhua, February 22, 2015 Adjust font size:

The eastern Ukrainian militia has swapped war captives with Kiev on Saturday evening, the Interfax news agency reported.

The insurgents released 139 servicemen in return for 52 militia fighters. Both numbers exceed the originally planned figures of about 40 captives from each side.

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko confirmed the exchange on his Twitter account.

The exchange was taking place on a road near the village of Kirovsk, not far from Lugansk, the report said.

Both sides reportedly have also been preparing for further swaps of captured soldiers in the near future.

The handover is part of the new cease-fire deal agreed upon among the Contact Group over Ukraine crisis in the Belarusian capital of Minsk where leaders of Russia, France, Germany and Ukraine helped materialize the hard-earned deal after overnight talks on Feb. 12. Endite