Ukraine, rebels swap hundreds of captives

Ukraine and pro-Russian rebels swapped hundreds of prisoners yesterday as part of a new push for peace in one of Europe's bloodiest conflicts in decades.

The exchange on a stretch of a dusty road north of the devastated eastern rebel stronghold of Donetsk came as negotiators from both sides held Skype video talks aimed at reviving stalled negotiations.

A round of talks mediated by European and Russian envoys in the Belarussian capital Minsk on Wednesday was due to have been followed by a final one on Friday 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.

The Skype consultations 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 rivals.

It also came as the Kremlin published a revised military doctrine that decries the "reinforcement of Nato's offensive capacities on Russia's borders", and insists that the alliance is the fundamental threat to Russian security.

Friday's talks in Minsk were meant to reinforce two September deals that aimed to preserve Ukraine as a single nation in which Russian-border regions enjoyed more self-control.

Yet little of what was agreed nearly four months ago has been achieved.

The heavily-Russified industrial regions of Lugansk and Donetsk staged their own leadership polls in November that infuriated Kiev and dampened early glimmers of hope of a political settlement being reached soon.