Ukraine

Ukrainian government forces and pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine have started a prisoner swap, the office of Ukraine’s president said on Thursday. It is the first swap of 2020 and Ukraine will take back 19 of its citizens, the president’s office said in a statement.

Russian-backed armed formations in the breakaway Donbas region have since Saturday (21 March) denied access to the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe’s (OSCE) mission monitoring the conflict, Ukraine’s State Border Guard Service reported on Tuesday.

The Chief Monitor of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) to Ukraine, Y. Halit Çevik, welcomed today the extension of the SMM’s mandate for another year.

The armed forces of the Luhansk and Donetsk People’s Republics (LPR and DPR, respectively) are preparing for a higher intensity of conflict, according to a 24 February briefing by the Ukrainian Ministry of Defence (MoD) on operations of Ukrainian forces.

Two high-ranking officials from the … OSCE expressed deep concern over the recent upsurge in fighting in eastern Ukraine that killed at least five combatants and wounded at least eight others near a front-line town from which the warring sides withdrew forces in November.

In Kyiv, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy elevated aide Andriy Yermak, who had acted as an envoy in prisoner exchanges with Russia in recent months, to the post of chief of staff. In Moscow, the Kremlin said that the relationship with Ukraine would now be handled by the Ukrainian-born deputy head of the Russian presidential administration, Dmitry Kozak, sidelining a noted hardliner, Vladislav Surkov.

The European Union on Tuesday slapped sanctions on seven people accused of undermining Ukraine's sovereignty for their role in organizing Russian local elections in the Crimean Peninsula, annexed by Moscow in 2014. … The move means that 177 people and 44 "entities'' - organizations, associations or companies - are now under EU sanctions over allegations of undermining Ukraine's territorial integrity.

(Ukrainian Foreign Minister Vadym) Prystayko said Kyiv asked the OSCE not only to extend the duration of the mission, but to "expand its possibilities and human resources" and support it financially.

Ukrainian authorities and Russia-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine have completed what was billed as an "all-for-all" prisoner swap near the city of Horlivka on December 29, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy's office said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has defended the pro-Russian rebels in eastern Ukraine, calling for direct talks between them and the Kyiv government to help restore peace. … Mr Putin was speaking at his annual wide-ranging, marathon press conference, broadcast live on all major TV channels.