KYIV. Sept 8 (Interfax) - Ukraine's President Petro Poroshenko has said that 1,200 captives have been released after the truce was announced.
"We have managed to free 1,200 hostages," he said in Mariupol on Monday.
The president also said that 33 Ukrainian captives, who had not surrendered, were taken out of encirclement on Sunday.
"I am meeting them in Mariupol today," Poroshenko added.
It was reported that at its meeting in Minsk on September 5 the Contact Group signed a protocol on an immediate ceasefire in eastern Ukraine from 6 p.m. Kyiv time. The protocol consists of 12 points and involves, in particular, a prisoner exchange, humanitarian aid delivery and ceasefire monitoring on the border.