KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia and Ukraine exchanged lots of extra prisoners on Saturday as a part of a main swap that amounted to a uncommon second of cooperation in in any other case failed efforts to achieve a ceasefire. The trade got here hours after Kyiv got here beneath a large-scale Russian drone and missile assault that left at the least 15 folks injured.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Russia’s protection ministry mentioned all sides introduced dwelling 307 extra troopers on Saturday, a day after every launched a complete of 390 combatants and civilians.
“We expect more to come tomorrow,” Zelenskyy mentioned on his official Telegram channel. Russia’s protection ministry additionally mentioned it anticipated the trade 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 difficult night’
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 greatest mixed missile and drone assaults on the capital.
“A difficult night for all of us,” the administration mentioned in an announcement.
Posting on X, Ukraine’s International Minister Andrii Sybiha known as it “clear evidence that increased sanctions pressure on Moscow is necessary to accelerate the peace process.”
In the meantime, the EU’s ambassador to Kyiv described it as “horrific.”
“If anyone still doubts Russia wants war to continue — read the news,” Katarina Mathernová wrote on the social community.
The particles of intercepted missiles and drones fell in at the least six Kyiv metropolis districts. Based on the performing head of town’s navy 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 at the least 5 wounded within the space, the administration mentioned.
Yurii Bondarchuk, a neighborhood resident, mentioned the air raid siren “started as usual, then the drones started to fly around as they constantly do.” Moments later, he heard a growth and noticed shattered glass fly via the air.
“The balcony is totally wiped out, as well as the windows and the doors,” he mentioned as he stood at the hours of darkness, 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 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 mentioned.
Russia’s protection ministry on Saturday claimed its forces in a single day struck varied navy targets throughout Ukraine, together with missile and drone-producing crops, a reconnaissance heart and a launching web site for anti-aircraft missiles.
A posh deal
The prisoner swap on Friday was the primary part of a sophisticated deal involving the trade of 1,000 prisoners from all sides.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy mentioned the primary part of the deal introduced dwelling 390 Ukrainians, with additional releases anticipated over the weekend, which can make it the biggest swap of the battle. Russia’s Protection Ministry mentioned it obtained the identical variety of folks from Ukraine.
The swap happened on the border with Belarus, in northern Ukraine, in response to a Ukrainian official who spoke on situation of anonymity as a result of he was not licensed to talk publicly.
The launched Russians had been taken to Belarus for medical remedy, the Russian Protection Ministry mentioned.
Nonetheless, the trade — the most recent of dozens of swaps for the reason that battle started and the largest involving Ukrainian civilians up to now — didn’t herald a halt within the preventing.
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 Might 16 Istanbul assembly, Turkish International 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 subsequent spherical of talks as diplomatic maneuvering continued.
Russian International Minister Sergey Lavrov mentioned Moscow would give Ukraine a draft doc outlining its circumstances for a “sustainable, long-term, comprehensive” peace settlement, as soon as the continued prisoner trade had completed.
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 each side remained far aside on key circumstances for ending the preventing. 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 it had shot down 788 Ukrainian drones away from the battlefield between Might 20 and Might 23.
