President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy notes that the work is currently underway to return Ukrainian citizens illegally detained in the occupied territories and in the Russian Federation. He expressed hope that an agreement on the date of the release of the first part of captives will be reached shortly.
"Returning Ukrainian citizens is one of our top-priority global tasks," the President said following the 8th session of the High Level Strategic Council between Ukraine and Turkey.
According to Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the work is carried out in two directions. The first is within the Trilateral Contact Group (TCG) in Minsk regarding Ukrainian prisoners held in the temporarily occupied territory of Donbas.
“A list is being prepared. A very large list. We have already submitted it. The list will be approved in Minsk,” Volodymyr Zelenskyy informed.
The President is hopeful that an agreement on the date of the release of the first part of detained persons will be reached shortly.
«Why the first part? Because there are really many people there,” he added.
The second direction is negotiations with the Russian party on the release of Ukrainians held in the occupied Crimea or the territory of Russia. “The work has started, too. I am sure the dates will be announced shortly and the lists will be made public. We, the whole team, work very hard on this. Indeed most of the prisoners on the territory of the Russian Federation we are talking about with the Russian party are Crimean Tatars,” the Head of State said.
