MOSCOW -- The Ukrainian government and separatists from the country's southeast on Friday began swapping hundreds of prisoners of war in a rare sign of cooperation between the two sides.
The prisoner exchange, which was reported by the Interfax news service Friday, came during a period of diplomatic stagnation as peace talks between Russia and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe broke down in Minsk, Belarus.
The suspension of the peace talks, the first to be held since September, was announced by Belarusian officials, who have hosted negotiations to end the 9-month-old conflict, which has killed more than 4,700.
Dmitry Mironchik, a spokesman for the Belarusian Foreign Ministry, confirmed by telephone that talks were not held Friday but did not give a reason. He said Minsk would remain open to hosting talks "even if they take place on New Year's Eve."
As the talks broke down, Ukraine also announced that it would cut both passenger and cargo rail services to the Crimean Peninsula, which was annexed by Russia in March. Ukrainian Railways, the state-run train service, said it was canceling service to the peninsula for "passenger safety."
The decision further isolates the peninsula, which is dependent on Ukraine for deliveries of utilities, including energy. Without rail service, Crimea remains open only to automobiles and to an overextended ferry service from the Russian port city of Kerch.
Negotiations seeking an end to the conflict in southeast Ukraine had been expected to continue Friday, but expectations for a breakthrough were low. A cease-fire signed in September has produced a moderate reduction in the fighting, but a political solution has remained elusive.
The only concrete result from talks held Wednesday appeared to be the prisoner exchange, the largest to date, which was one of the steps outlined in a peace plan written by President Petro Poroshenko of Ukraine in June.
Leonid Kuchma, the former president of Ukraine appointed to represent the country in the talks, confirmed the prisoner exchange to the Ukraine Interfax News Service on Friday and said, "The list of names has been approved and signed by both sides."
The list included 225 separatists held by the Ukrainian side and 150 servicemen held by the rebels, and the exchange may be concluded by the end of this year, the agency reported. On Friday, both Russian and Ukrainian state media announced that the prisoner exchange was underway.
Ukraine handed over 222 prisoners and the rebels released 145 people, according to Russia's state RIA Novosti news agency -- the biggest one-time prisoners swap since the pro-Russia insurgency flared up in eastern Ukraine in April.
The Interfax news agency quoted Svyatoslav Tsegolko, a spokesman for Poroshenko, saying that 146 Ukrainian prisoners were released Friday and another four will be freed today. The figures corresponded to an earlier Ukrainian official statement, which said that 150 Ukrainian prisoners were to be released.
Russia's state television showed Ukrainian war prisoners boarding buses in the main rebel stronghold of Donetsk before being driven to a location north of the city where the exchange took place.
On the site where the swap was conducted, prisoners were called up by groups of 10 with officials from both sides verifying their identities.
Previous prisoner exchanges have been plagued by accusations of bait-and-switches and by poor treatment of prisoners by both sides.
Ukraine also cut power service to Crimea on Friday for the second time in less than a week. In a separate development, Visa Inc. announced that it would cease servicing payments in Crimea because of sanctions imposed by the United States last week in connection with the peninsula's annexation.
Information for this article was contributed by Andrew Roth of The New York Times and by staff members of The Associated Press.
A Section on 12/27/2014