On July 12, 2018 President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko said at a press conference in Brussels that all his meetings touched upon the issue of the release of Ukrainian hostages and political prisoners held in prisons in Russia or in the occupied territories.

“At each meeting, including the meeting with Recep Tayyip Erdoğan (Turkish President – ed.), which has just ended, the importance of the liberation of the Crimean Tatars was also underlined. And during all these meetings, the issue of hostages was among the priorities,” the Head of State said.

Petro Poroshenko said that during his meeting with President of France Emmanuel Macron, he had carefully discussed a large number of cooperation issues, from military-technical cooperation to the release of hostages.