KIEV, Dec. 29 -- The Ukrainian government completed a prisoner swap with rebels in the country's eastern regions and received 76 detainees on Sunday, the presidential office said.

"The mutual release of the detainees has ended," the presidential office said in a statement on Facebook, adding that it will provide more details later. The prisoner swap took place near the city of Horlivka in the Donetsk region.

Interfax Ukraine news agency said in an earlier report that Kiev would hand over about 120 captives to the rebels in the Donetsk and Lugansk regions.

This is the first prisoner exchange between the two sides since 2017 when Kiev and the rebels released a total of 312 detainees.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and German Chancellor Angela Merkel hailed Sunday's prisoner swap during a phone conversation, according to the Kremlin.

Leaders of Ukraine, Russia, France and Germany met at the "Normandy Four" summit in Paris on Dec. 9, reaching an agreement on a prisoner swap in Ukraine by the end of this year.

The conflict between the Ukrainian government and pro-independence armed groups in the Donetsk and Lugansk regions broke out in April 2017. According to the United Nations, some 13,000 people have been killed in the conflict since then.

【国际英语资讯:Kiev completes prisoner swap with rebels: presidential office】相关文章：

★ 中国要求俄罗斯解释炮击中国渔船一事

★ 2013将是金融“去全球化”关键年

★ 约翰尼-德普被曝与女友争吵不断 恋情告急

★ 政府问责局：应用美元硬币替换纸币

★ 透明国际行贿调查 马来西亚排名垫底

★ 联想真的需要智能手机业务吗？

★ 施瓦辛格重返影坛

★ 十大“反资”电影？

★ 台湾小胖弟模仿蔡依林跳热辣折手舞

★ Lex专栏：印度缺电之惑