On September 7, Russia and Ukraine completed the exchange of a group of detained personnel. The result of the previous negotiation was that 35 personnel were released from each side. At 10:30 local time, the Russian Special Flight Team's 204 aircraft arrived at Ukraine's Kiev Borispol Military Airport. At 12:10, Russian citizens released by the Ukrainian side took the plane from Borispol Airport to return to Moscow, including Kiril Vinsky, the director of Ukrainian website, who was released on Thursday.
In the afternoon, Ukrainian citizens seized by Russia arrived at the terminal B of the Borispol Airport, Borispol Airport, the capital of Ukraine, on an An-148 series aircraft with the sign of Ukrainian flag. Ukrainian President Zelensky went to the airport to greet him in person. These personnel include 24 Ukrainian naval officers and soldiers who were detained by Russia in the Kerch Strait crisis in November 2018, Ukrainian film director Senzov, and reporter Roman Sushenko, who was accused of espionage by Russia, among others.
In April 2014, a large-scale conflict between Ukraine's government forces and civilian armed forces broke out in Donbas (including Donetsk Oblast and Luhansk Oblast ). With the mediation of the international community, the two sides of the conflict reached a ceasefire agreement in Minsk in September 2014 and February 2015 respectively. Large-scale armed conflicts were under control, but there are still sporadic fire exchanges.
On July 11, 2019, Ukrainian President Zelensky and Russian President Putin had a phone call for the first time. The two sides exchanged views on the Donbass conflict and discussed the exchange of detained personnel on both sides. On July 16, Prestyko, deputy director of the Ukrainian Presidential Office, held a press conference in Kiev, announcing that Ukraine and Russia had reached an agreement within the framework of the "Normandy Quartet" (France, Germany, Ukraine, Russia) meeting held in Paris, France, and will exchange detained personnel in the next month.
