Kyiv: Russia and Ukraine swapped hundreds more prisoners Sunday, the Russian defence ministry said, the third part of a major swap that was a moment of cooperation in otherwise failed efforts to reach a ceasefire.
The ministry said each side brought home 303 more soldiers, after each released a total of 307 combatants and civilians on Saturday, and 390 Friday. The swap was the largest in more than three years of war.
The announcement came hours after a massive Russian drone-and-missile attack targeted the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, and other regions in the country for a second consecutive night, killing at least 12 people and injuring dozens, officials said early Sunday.
The scale of the onslaught was stunning — Russia hit Ukraine with 367 drones and missiles, making this the largest single aerial attack of the more than three-year-long war, according to Yuriy Ihnat, a spokesperson for Ukraine’s Air Force.
In all, Russia used 69 missiles of various types and 298 drones, including Iranian-designed Shahed drones, he told The Associated Press.
It was “the most massive strike in terms of the number of air attack weapons on the territory of Ukraine since the beginning of the full-scale invasion in 2022,” Ihnat said.
There was no immediate comment from Moscow.
For Kyiv, the day was particularly sombre as the city observed Kyiv Day, a national holiday that falls on the last Sunday in May, commemorating its founding in the 5th century.
Deliberate strikes on ordinary cities
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russian missiles and drones hit more than 30 cities and villages and urged Western partners to ramp up sanctions on Russia.
That has been a long-standing demand of the Ukrainian leader, but one that — despite warnings to Moscow by the United States and Europe — has not materialised in ways to deter Russia.
“These were deliberate strikes on ordinary cities,” Zelenskyy wrote on X, adding that Sunday’s targets included Kyiv, Zhytomyr, Khmelnytskyi, Ternopil, Chernihiv, Sumy, Odesa, Poltava, Dnipro, Mykolaiv, Kharkiv and Cherkasy regions.
“Without truly strong pressure on the Russian leadership, this brutality cannot be stopped. Sanctions will certainly help,” Zelenskyy said. “Determination matters now — the determination of the United States, of European countries, and of all those around the world who seek peace.”
The prisoner swap was the only tangible outcome from peace talks in Istanbul earlier this month that have so far failed to produce a ceasefire and a rare moment of cooperation between the warring sides.
Russia’s Defence Ministry said, meanwhile, that its air defences shot down 110 Ukrainian drones overnight.
The most massive Russian air attack
Sounds of explosions boomed throughout the night in Kyiv and the surrounding area as Ukrainian air defence persisted for hours in efforts to shoot down Russian drones and missiles. At least four people were killed and 16 were injured in the capital itself, according to the security service.
“A difficult Sunday morning in Ukraine after a sleepless night. The most massive Russian air attack in many weeks lasted all night,” Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said on X.
Fires broke out in homes and businesses, set off by falling drone debris.
In the Zhytomyr region, west of Kyiv, the emergency service said three children were killed, aged 8, 12 and 17. Twelve people were injured in the attacks, it said. At least four people were killed in the Khmelnytskyi region, in western Ukraine. One man was killed in the Mykolaiv region, in southern Ukraine.
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said a student dormitory in Holosiivskyi district was hit by a drone, and one of the building’s walls was on fire. In Dniprovskyi district, a private house was destroyed, and in Shevchenkivskyi district, windows in a residential building were smashed.
The scale of Russia’s use of aerial weapons aside, the attacks over the past 48 hours have been among the most intense strikes on Ukraine since the February 2022 invasion.
A village engulfed in smoke and rubble
In Markhalivka, just outside Kyiv where several village homes were burned down, the Fedorenkos watched their ruined home in tears.
“The street looks like Bakhmut, like Mariupol, it’s just terrible,” says 76-year-old Liubov Fedorenko, comparing their village to some of Ukraine’s most devastated cities. She told the AP she was grateful her daughter and the grandchildren hadn’t joined them for the weekend.
“I was trying to persuade my daughter to come to us,” Fedorenko said, adding that she told her daughter, “After all, you live on the eighth floor in Kyiv, and here it’s the ground floor.”
“She said, No, mum, I’m not coming.’ And thank God she didn’t come, because the rocket hit (the house) on the side where the children’s rooms were,” Fedorenko said.
Ivan Fedorenko, 80, said he regrets letting their two dogs into the house when the air raid siren went off. “They burned to death,” he said.
AP
