KIEV, July 18 (Xinhua) -- The Trilateral Contact Group (TCG) agreed to start an exchange of captives following a so-called legal clean-up, Ukraine's representative in the TCG's political subgroup Roman Bezsmertny said Thursday.
"It was agreed to initiate the procedure for the exchange of prisoners of war, illegally detained persons and convicts in the '208 for 69' format," Bezsmertny said during a briefing.
According to Bezsmertny, 69 people in the exchange are Ukrainians who are detained in the non-government-controlled areas of eastern Ukraine, while 208 are people detained by the Ukrainian side, who are requested by the opponents.
Meanwhile, the official noted that Ukraine does not have full information on the number of captives held by the opponents.
The largest number of captives exchanged since the beginning of the military conflict in eastern Ukraine took place on Dec. 27, 2017 when Kiev received 73 Ukrainian citizens held captive and sent 233 people to the non-government-controlled areas.
The ongoing violence in eastern Ukraine broke out in April 2014 as separatist forces clashed with government forces.
