On this photograph taken from video launched by Russian Protection Ministry Press Service on Saturday, Could 24, 2025, Russian servicemen react in a bus upon arrival to Chkalovsky airport, outdoors Moscow, Russia, after getting back from captivity by a POWs alternate between Russia and Ukraine.
AP/Rusian Protection Ministry Press Service
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AP/Rusian Protection Ministry Press Service
KYIV, Ukraine — Russia and Ukraine exchanged lots of extra prisoners Saturday as a part of a serious swap that amounted to a uncommon second of cooperation in in any other case failed efforts to succeed in a ceasefire.
The alternate got here hours after Kyiv got here below a large-scale Russian drone and missile assault and authorities mentioned one other mixed aerial assault that began Saturday night time and stretched into Sunday morning had left three folks lifeless within the “Kyiv area,” in keeping with Mykola Kalashnyk, head of the Kyiv regional army administration.
Mayor Vitali Klitschko mentioned “there are already 10 injured” is Kyiv as of three a.m. Sunday, including {that a} pupil dormitory in Holosiivskyi district was hit a drone and the outside of one in every of its partitions was on hearth.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Russia’s protection ministry mentioned all sides introduced residence 307 extra troopers on Saturday, a day after every launched a complete of 390 combatants and civilians. Additional releases anticipated over the weekend are set to make the swap the most important in additional than three years of battle.
“We anticipate extra to return tomorrow,” Zelenskyy mentioned on his official Telegram channel. Russia’s protection ministry additionally mentioned it anticipated the alternate to be continued, although it didn’t give particulars.
Hours earlier, explosions and anti-aircraft hearth had been heard all through Kyiv as many sought shelter in subway stations as Russian drones and missiles focused the Ukrainian capital in a single day.
In talks held in Istanbul earlier this month — the primary time the 2 sides met head to head for peace talks since Russia’s 2022 full-scale invasion — Kyiv and Moscow agreed to swap 1,000 prisoners of battle and civilian detainees every.
‘A troublesome night time’
Officers mentioned Russia attacked Ukraine with 14 ballistic missiles and 250 Shahed drones in a single day whereas Ukrainian forces shot down six missiles and neutralized 245 drones — 128 drones had been shot down and 117 had been thwarted utilizing digital warfare.
The Kyiv Metropolis Army Administration mentioned it was one of many largest mixed missile and drone assaults on the capital.
“A troublesome night time for all of us,” the administration mentioned in a press release.
Posting on X, Ukraine’s Overseas Minister Andrii Sybiha known as it “clear proof that elevated sanctions stress on Moscow is critical to speed up the peace course of.”
Posting on X, U.Ok. Overseas Secretary David Lammy spoke of “one other night time of terror for Ukrainian civilians.”
“These are usually not the actions of a rustic in search of peace,” Lammy mentioned of the Russian strike.
Katarina Mathernová, the European Union’s ambassador to Kyiv, described the assault as “horrific.”
“If anybody nonetheless doubts Russia needs battle to proceed — learn the information,” Katarina Mathernová wrote on the social community.
Air raid alert in Kyiv
The particles of intercepted missiles and drones fell in a minimum of six Kyiv metropolis districts. In line with the appearing head of the town’s army administration, Tymur Tkachenko, six folks required medical care after the assault and two fires had been sparked in Kyiv’s Solomianskyi district.
The Obolon district, the place a residential constructing was closely broken within the assault, was the toughest hit with a minimum of 5 wounded within the space, the administration mentioned.
Yurii Bondarchuk, an area resident, mentioned the air raid siren “began as normal, then the drones began to fly round as they continually do.” Moments later, he heard a increase and noticed shattered glass fly by way of the air.
Ukrainian troopers stroll after a POWs alternate between Russia and Ukraine, in Chernyhiv area, Ukraine, Saturday, Could 24, 2025.
Evgeniy Maloletka/AP
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Evgeniy Maloletka/AP
“The balcony is completely worn out, in addition to the home windows and the doorways,” he mentioned as he stood at nighttime, smoking a cigarette to calm his nerves whereas firefighters labored to extinguish the flames.
The air raid alert in Kyiv lasted greater than seven hours, warning of incoming missiles and drones.
Kyiv’s mayor, Vitalii Klitschko, warned residents forward of the assault that greater than 20 Russian strike drones had been heading towards the town. Because the assault continued, he mentioned drone particles fell on a shopping center and a residential constructing in Obolon. Emergency providers had been headed to the positioning, Klitschko mentioned.
Individually, 13 civilians had been killed on Friday and in a single day into Saturday in Russian assaults in Ukraine’s south, east and north, regional authorities mentioned.
Three folks died after a Russian ballistic missile focused port infrastructure in Odesa on the Black Sea, native Gov. Oleh Kiper reported. Russia later mentioned the strike Friday focused a cargo ship carrying army gear.
Russia’s protection ministry on Saturday claimed its forces in a single day struck numerous army targets throughout Ukraine, together with missile and drone-producing crops, a reconnaissance heart and a launching website for anti-aircraft missiles.
A posh dealThe prisoner swap on Friday was the primary section of an advanced deal involving the alternate of 1,000 prisoners from all sides.
It passed off on the border with Belarus, in northern Ukraine, in keeping with a Ukrainian official who spoke on situation of anonymity as a result of he was not approved to talk publicly.
The launched Russians had been taken to Belarus for medical therapy, the Russian Protection Ministry mentioned.
POWs arrived on the medical facility within the Chernihiv area for a second day on Saturday. However for a lot of their arrival was bittersweet.
Those that weren’t reunited with their family members took solace within the launched POWs offering some details about when their relations had been final seen.
Anna Marchenko, the daughter of a lacking Ukrainian serviceman, was elated when a launched POW mentioned they’d seen her father.
“That is such a giant information. It is like a recent breath of air,” she mentioned. “I did not see him, however a minimum of it is some information. Not less than it is information that provides us the chance to proceed to breathe and reside in peace.”
Nonetheless, the alternate — the newest of dozens of swaps for the reason that battle started and the most important involving Ukrainian civilians to date — didn’t herald a halt within the combating.
On this photograph taken from video launched by Russian Protection Ministry Press Service on Saturday, Could 24, 2025, Russian servicemen maintain a Russian flag upon arrival to Chkalovsky airport, outdoors Moscow, Russia, after getting back from captivity by a POWs alternate between Russia and Ukraine.
AP/Rusian Protection Ministry Press Service
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AP/Rusian Protection Ministry Press Service
Battles continued alongside the roughly 1,000-kilometer (620-mile) entrance line, the place tens of hundreds of troopers have been killed, and neither nation has relented in its deep strikes.
After the Could 16 Istanbul assembly, Turkish Overseas Minister Hakan Fidan known as the prisoner swap a “confidence-building measure” and mentioned the events had agreed in precept to fulfill once more.
However Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov mentioned on Friday that there was no settlement but on the venue for the following spherical of talks as diplomatic maneuvering continued.
Russian Overseas Minister Sergey Lavrov mentioned Moscow would give Ukraine a draft doc outlining its circumstances for a “sustainable, long-term, complete” peace settlement, as soon as the continued prisoner alternate had completed.
Far aside on key circumstances
European leaders have accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of dragging his toes in peace efforts whereas he tries to press his bigger military’s battlefield initiative and seize extra Ukrainian land.
The Istanbul assembly revealed that either side remained far aside on key circumstances for ending the combating. One such situation for Ukraine, backed by its Western allies, is a short lived ceasefire as a primary step towards a peaceable settlement.
Russia’s Protection Ministry mentioned that in a single day and early on Saturday its forces shot down over 100 Ukrainian drones over six provinces in western and southern Russia.
The drone strikes injured three folks within the Tula area south of Moscow, native Gov. Dmitriy Milyaev mentioned, and sparked a fireplace at an industrial website there.
Andriy Kovalenko, of Ukraine’s Nationwide Safety and Protection Council, mentioned Saturday the drones hit a plant in Tula that makes chemical substances utilized in explosives and rocket gas.
