(MENAFN- The Peninsula) Ukraine and pro-Russian rebels swapped hundreds of prisoners yesterday as part of a new push for peace that came despite Kiev's decision to cut off key transport links to breakaway Crimea.
The prisoner exchange on a dark and isolated stretch of a road north of the devastated eastern rebel stronghold of Donetsk unfolded as negotiators from both sides held video talks on Skype at reviving stalled negotiations.
A round mediated by European and Russian envoys in the Belarussian capital Minsk on Wednesday was due to have been followed by a final one yesterday at which a comprehensive peace accord was signed.
But Wednesday's acrimonious session broke up after five hours with a deal reached on only the least contentious of the four agenda points: a prisoner swap involving 222 guerrillas and 145 Ukrainian troops.
And Ukraine's suspension yesterday of all bus and rail service to Crimea - a decision made citing security concerns that effectively severed the peninsula of 2.3 million from the mainland - added to the hostile tenor of the negotiations.
The video conferences have so far failed to produce a new date for direct talks.
Yet the prisoner handover went off without a hitch and now stands out as a rare example of cooperation between the two bitter enemies.
Some of the captives expressed surprise and joy at having the chance to go home in time for New Year's Eve - the most cherished of all the holidays celebrated in once-communist eastern Europe.
One of the 146 Ukrainian prisoner originally brought by the insurgents refused to rejoin his old military unit and was eventually taken back to Donetsk.
"All of my relatives are in Russia," the ethnically-Russian Alexei Samsonov said. "I consider what the Ukrainian army is doing not to be right."
State security sources in Kiev said the separatists were still holding about 500 government troops after yesterday's exchange.
The same source said Ukraine would be willing to swap them for several dozen rebels now languishing in the country's jails.
The suspension of bus and train services to Crimea effectively creates a Ukrainian transport blockade to and from the region, as Ukraine has already banned sea and air traffic with the territory, which is still serviced by Russian airlines.
However, other road transport including passenger cars and lorries will still be allowed to travel into and out of Crimea.
Although controlled by Moscow, Crimea's only land link is with Ukraine and it has remained dependent on the Ukrainian mainland for most of its supplies, including much of its electricity and water.
Violence arising from Kiev's conflict with pro-Russian separatists has been confined almost exclusively to eastern regions of Ukraine, and has not affected Crimea. But the Ukrainian government has repeatedly warned of a build-up of Russian forces on the peninsula.
State rail firm Ukrzaliznytsia said cargo trains would be suspended from yesterday, while passenger routes would gradually cease running over the weekend and on Monday.
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