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Sunday, September 8, 2019

Russia and Ukraine exchange prisoners in move to improve ties Saturday Sep 07,2019

Russia and Ukraine have exchanged dozens of prisoners, releasing 35 prisoners each, in what could be a significant step towards easing tensions between the two countries.

Planes carrying freed Russian and Ukrainian prisoners landed at Moscow's Vnukovo and Kiev's Boryspil airports on Saturday Sep 07,2019

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky hailed the exchange as the first step towards ending the war in Ukraine's east and returning territory annexed by Moscow.

"We have taken the first step," he said after greeting the former prisoners at the airport in Ukraine's capital, Kiev.

"We have to take all the steps to finish this horrible war," he said, pledging to also return "our territory"

The exchange, the first since 2017, took place after lengthy negotiations

Those released by Russia include all 24 Ukrainian sailors who were captured in November last year in the Sea of Azov, as well as Ukrainian filmmaker Oleg Sentsov, who was convicted of plotting "terrorist" acts. He had denied the charges

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday the prisoner exchange would be "a good step forward towards the normalisation [of relations]".

Moscow and Kiev have been in a conflict since 2014 when Russia annexed Crimea after a controversial referendum.

Fighting between Ukrainian troops and Russia-backed separatists has killed more than 13,000 people since then.

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