Despite considerable hype from Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky and his administration, the last exchange of prisoners in April appears to have been a win for the Russian-controlled Donbas militants

Oleh Shevandin, a well-known Wushu and KungFu champion, was taken prisoner by militants from the Russian proxy ‘Donetsk people’s republic’ [DPR] five years ago

The Russian-controlled militants in Donbas are refusing to release 55-year-old Valery Matyushenko who almost certainly needs medical care after 10 months “being savagely and inhumanly tortured” in the notorious Izolyatsia secret prison in Donetsk

Ihor Myronchuk was taken prisoner in February 2019, and clearly tortured into repeating Moscow’s line about the war for the Russian and Russian-controlled militant propaganda media.

21-year-old Bohdan Kovalchuk has been imprisoned in the so-called ‘Donetsk people’s republic’ [DPR] since he was 17 and seized together with lads even younger and forced to give videoed ‘confessions’ of having carried out tasks for Ukraine’s SBU

None of the exchanges has ever come close to fulfilling the Minsk Agreement demand for a release of “all for all” but this latest exchange was particularly worrying

A judge who gained notoriety under President Viktor Yanukovych for his role in political persecution has placed ex-MP, investigative journalist and Maidan activist Tetyana Chornovol under 24-hour house arrest

A long-promised exchange is about to take place on a much smaller scale than hoped for, and with none of the prisoners identified by former hostages like Stanislav Aseyev included

A raging pandemic is no obstacle for Russia’s FSB which has made new arrests in occupied Crimea with this ‘Ukrainian saboteur / spy’ storyline ominously similar to those used in previous politically-motivated prosecutions.

Ivan Yatskin, a Ukrainian from Crimea whom Russia has charged with ‘treason’, is to remain imprisoned in Moscow despite medical conditions which put him in particular danger if infected by Covid-19

Natalya Zelenina has been imprisoned in the self-proclaimed ‘Donetsk people’s republic’ [DPR] since November 2017, although her potentially life-threatening plight has only recently been made public

It is likely that Denis Kashuk agreed to plead guilty after threats that his mother and other members of the family would be arrested

The trial is shortly to begin in Russia of 61-year-old Ukrainian Oleh Prykhodko on charges almost certainly linked with his pro-Ukrainian views and unconcealed opposition to Russian occupation

Roman Onishchuk was taken prisoner by militants of the Russian proxy ‘Luhansk people’s republic’ in June 2015, and there has been virtually no information about him since

The self-proclaimed ‘Luhansk people’s republic’ has sentenced Anton Hryhorov, an employee of the Luhansk University, to 12 years for what they call ‘state treason’

72-year-old Volodymyr Morgunov is probably Russia’s oldest Ukrainian political prisoner, with his horrifically long 12-year sentence seemingly linked with his handing information to Ukraine that Russia has no good reason to keep secret

Ukrainian hostage Roman Sahaidak is in acute pain and may suffer irreparable damage to the spine after the beatings he received by militants from the self-proclaimed ‘Luhansk people’s republic’

Russia has seized another Ukrainian political prisoner in occupied Crimea, bringing to at least five the number of new hostages since the only major exchange of prisoners to date, in September 2019

Maidan activist Mykola Shyptur probably became Russia’s first Ukrainian political prisoner by mistake, although not for any good reason

The self-proclaimed ‘Luhansk people’s republic’ has seized another woman hostage and is claiming that she was ‘spying’ for Ukraine’s Security Service