Ukrainian President Denies Prisoner Swap With Russia Completed, Says Negotiations Ongoing
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy says that negotiations to exchange prisoners with Russia are continuing despite earlier unconfirmed reports that a swap had been completed.
"The process of the mutual release of individuals held is in progress," the Ukrainian presidential office said in a post on its official Facebook page on August 30.
"Information about its completion does not correspond to reality," it added.
The post described reports to the contrary as "disinformation" and said that when a prisoner exchange is completed, "the president's office will announce it on official channels."
The post came after relatives of one of the 24 sailors being held by Russia told RFE/RL's Crimean Desk that they all had been freed.
That claim came after Ukraine's prosecutor-general reposted comments from a Ukrainian parliament member saying Ukraine and Russia had carried out a swap of prisoners, including Ukrainian sailors captured by Russian forces last year and Ukrainian film director Oleh Sentsov.
Russian foreign policy aide Yury Ushakov told journalists in Moscow on August 30 that negotiations regarding a possible prisoner exchange are "taking place behind closed doors, but I can confirm that there is some progress," according to Interfax.
That concludes our live-blogging of the Ukraine crisis for August 30, 2019.