The exchange of more than 300 prisoners by warring parties in Ukraine has been welcomed as a positive step after years of conflict, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said on Thursday.

After successfully coordinating the operation this week, ICRC reported that it was the largest transfer of detainees since fighting erupted in 2014 between government forces and separatists in the east of the country bordering Russia.

It is also the first such release in more than a year and there is hope that it may be followed in coming months by further swaps to liberate hundreds of other prisoners, ICRC spokesperson in Ukraine Miladin Bogetic told Daniel Johnson.

Duration: 3’57”