Polish priest set free by pro-Russian separatists
A Polish priest, Paweł Witek, has been set free by pro-Russian separatists after being kidnapped on Tuesday in Donetsk.
Witek “is now in the care of Polish diplomats,” Foreign Affairs spokesman Marcin Wojciechowski announced on Twitter, Wednesday afternoon.
The priest was released after negotiations undertaken by the auxiliary bishop of the Kharkiv-Zaporizhia diocese, Jan Sobiło, and the Polish consul general in Donetsk, Jakub Wołąsiewicz.
According to the bishop, Witek was stopped by separatists for allegedly not holding a passport.
“The priest is in Donetsk temporarily. He came from Kazakhstan, where he works, to visit [his brothers] in the Society of Christ Fathers for Poles Living Abroad, of which he is a member,” Sobiło said before his release.
The abduction came as the Ukrainian military has stepped up efforts in Donetsk to try and quash the pro-Russian separatists from gaining control of the region. So far, 40 people have died in the clashes.
