Ukrainian Crisis

---

Filmmaker Oleg Sentsov was awarded a 20-year prison Sentence in Russia in 2015

Ukrainian efforts to swap high-profile prisoners with Russia are "running" but will not happen, on Friday, the officials in Kiev say that the rejection is reported that the swaps had taken place.

A statement from The Presidency denied that The Process was completed.

of Ukraine, the Prosecutor General had previously shared a Facebook post, which had been liberated on the film-maker Oleg Sentsov and 24 Ukrainian sailors, suggesting.

There was no immediate comment on the swaps from Russia.

But said a lawyer for Russian prisoners in the Ukraine, none of the captured flies were everywhere, on Friday.

relatives of some of The Prisoners came forward to gather at the airports in Kiev.

the rumors that a prisoner swap was imminent, has been widely used for moved in the last few days, according to Sentsov, Moscow freed from a prison in Russia's Arctic North, and a Ukrainian court, a Russian journalist.

But the Ukrainian presidency is trying to downplay the reports, warning against "misinformation" and calls on people to play "with the society of the emotions".

A spokesman for the Ukrainian SBU security agency, the BBC said that The Exchange take place on Friday.

Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov told Tass news agency that "the interaction is taking place on this topic, behind closed doors, but I can confirm some progress".

Who are the captives?

Sentsov was arrested during a protest against Russia's annexation of Crimea in 2014, and found guilty of the conspiracy of terrorist attacks.

He denied the charges, and

The Sailors were seized and taken, along with three Navy ships as they tried to go through the Kerch Strait , the only access to the Ukrainian ports on the Azov sea.

In may, an international tribunal to Russia to be ordered.

A lawyer for three of the Russian prisoners thought to be involved in The Swap said no one had left.

"no one is flying anywhere. All Russian citizens as well as citizens of Ukraine, the planned participation in The Exchange of prisoners, either at the mounting points, detention centres or wherever they have served their Sentence ," Valentin Rybin, said in a video posted on Facebook.

What is the bigger picture?

Ukraine's new President, Vladimir Zelensky, said when he took office at the beginning of this year, that would be the end of The Conflict with Russian-backed rebels in The East his top priority as President.

Mr. Zelensky is on " meet President Vladimir Putin as part of a summit next month with the leaders of Germany and France. The French President Emmanuel Macron said on Monday he had spoken with the Russian and Ukrainian presidents and said: "the conditions are ripe" for a meeting.

The Russian President's aide said, progress towards a release of prisoners was "very important for the whole atmosphere to a settlement of the Ukrainian Crisis ".

the fighting in The East of Ukraine has claimed around 13,000 lives since 2014, in the middle of a failed cease-fire offer.

Mr. Zelensky is a political newcomer who was a comedian before taking power. This Week , the Ukraine, sat in Parliament, for the First Time since the vote, Mr Zelensky picking 35-year-old lawyer Oleksiy Honcharuk as his Prime Minister .

russia, ukraine

Source of news: bbc.com