Ukraine hopes to see Kremlin’s political prisoner Zhemchugov released tomorrow - Petro Poroshenko

Ukraine hopes that Volodymyr Zhemchugov, a political prisoner of the Kremlin, will get released as soon as on Saturday 17 September, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has said in his speech to the 13th Annual Meeting of the Yalta European Strategy (YES).

“I can share some optimism with you. We have great hope that tomorrow we will bring Zhemchugov home,” he said.

The president added that Ukraine demanded that Russia honour one of the key terms of the Minsk agreements, which is a release of hostages.

“We demand an immediate release of Ukrainian hostages and political prisoners who are held in Russian prisons. This includes Oleg Sentsov, [Oleksandr] Kolchenko, [Mykola] Karpyuk, [Stanyslav] Klykh, Zhemchugov and others,” he said.