Oleksandr Turchynov: We demand that all captured Ukrainian servicemen without any bargains were immediately returned to Ukraine

"Our viewpoint - Russia has been delaying the return of our illegally seized military for too long, and we demand that without any bargains all captured Ukrainian servicemen were immediately returned to Ukraine", - NSDC Secretary Oleksandr Turchynov said on Thursday, answering to the questions of journalists after observing the training of special purpose troopers of the National Guard, who were first to start their activity in accordance with NATO standards. "There can be no merrymaking over this, because this is lives of people."

At that Oleksandr Turchynov emphasized that the idea concerning the exchange of prisoners in the format "everyone for everyone" "is not an initiative of Putin".

"This decision was spelled out in the Minsk agreements and, unfortunately, this very important segment of the Minsk agreements was consistently sabotaged exactly by the Russian party", - NSDC Secretary stated.

"We are ready to act within the framework of our agreements, and for us, certainly, the main task - to return all citizens of Ukraine back to their country. To return them alive and to do this as quickly as possible", - Oleksandr Turchynov emphasized, adding that: "For this, we will engage all our capabilities".