Contact group on Ukraine urges release of all hostages by year-end

 The three-party Contact Group on eastern Ukraine crisis, on Tuesday held a video conference, urging the conflicting sides to release all their hostages by the end of the current year, said a spokesperson for Kiev's delegate.
"The process to release all illegally detained persons in the format "all-to-all" should be stepped up. It should be completed by the end of 2015," Darka Olifer, the spokesperson for Ukraine's representative in the group Leonid Kuchma, wrote on her Facebook page.
The Contact Group has also agreed that women, as well as men in need of medical treatment, who were taken hostage, should be freed first of all, Olifer said.
Ukrainian government forces and pro-independence rebels have been holding hundreds of prisoners from the months of fighting. However, the exact number of captives is unknown.
Conflict in eastern Ukraine started in April 2014, claiming the lives of over 8,000 people.
On Sept.1, a comprehensive cease-fire was established in the restive areas, which has substantially eased the fighting.

Source: XINHUA.