Ukraine yesterday released a Russian state media journalist pending his trial for “high treason”, as the two countries discuss potential prisoner swaps.

Kyrylo Vyshynsky, a journalist at Russia’s RIA Novosti news agency, was released on condition he not leave the country and appear for his trial, his lawyer Andrii Domansky told AFP.

Ukraine’s SBU security service raided the Kiev offices of RIA Novosti last year, saying the agency and its journalists had been “used as tools in a hybrid war against Ukraine”.