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Kiev, Ukraine (AP) – Russia and Ukraine traded hundreds more prisoners on Sunday. This is the third and final part of the major exchange, reflecting a rare moment of cooperation in failed efforts to reach a ceasefire in more than three years of war.
A few hours ago, Ukrainian capital, Kiev, and other regions, were hit by massive Russian drones and missiles that killed at least 12 people and injured dozens. Ukrainian officials described it as the biggest aerial attack since the full-scale invasion of Russia in February 2022.
Late Sunday, the Ukrainian city was attacked for the third consecutive night, with Kiev Mayor Vitali Klitschko reporting that air defense forces were working in the capital against enemy drones. Ole Snyevbov, head of the Kharkiv junta, said Kharkiv and its suburbs were also under attack by drones.
Syniehubov said information about the victim had been revealed, urging residents to “keep safe places until the end of the alarm.”
Previously, the Russian Ministry of Defense said 303 combatants and civilians each traded 303 soldiers on Saturday, after 390 were released on Friday.
Ukrainian President Voldymi Zelensky confirmed the exchange on Sunday, saying in X “The Ukrainian defenders are at home.” He said the troops returned to Ukraine were members of “the Army, National Guard, State Border Patrol and State Special Transport Services.”
Natalya Borovik, the sister of Ukrainian soldier Ihol Uresov, was overwhelmed when he learned of the return of his brothers.
“My uncle had to calm me down and get me in a taxi so I was able to get here,” she told the Associated Press. “That moment will stay with you forever.”
Borovik said the family was waiting worried about the news and hoped the brothers would be released in the first part of Friday’s exchange.
“We were worried about everyone. He wasn’t there on Friday, but I was here. At least I greeted them. I stood there and stood and waited until the very end.
At a talk held in Istanbul earlier this month — the first time both parties have met up for peace talks — Kiev and Moscow have agreed to trade 1,000 prisoners and civilian detainees each. The exchange was the only concrete result from the consultation.
The biggest air attack of war
According to Yuriy Ihnat, a spokesman for the Ukrainian Air Force, Russia struck Ukraine with 367 drones and missiles.
Overall, Russia used 69 missiles of various types and 298 drones, including Iran-designed Shahhead drones, he told The Associated Press.
There were no immediate comments from Moscow on the strike.
For Kyiv, the day was particularly gloomy, marking the establishment of Kyiv Day, a national holiday held on the last Sunday of May, in celebration of its fifth century.
Zelenskyy said Russian missiles and drones had collided with more than 30 cities and villages, urging their western partners to tighten sanctions against Russia.
“These were intentional strikes in ordinary cities,” Zelenskyy wrote to X, with Sunday’s goals including Kyiv, Zhytomyr, Khmelnytskyi, Ternopil, Chernihiv, Sumy, Odesa, Poltava, Dnipro, Mykolaiv, Kharkiv, and Cherkasy ebine.
“The silence of America, the silence of others in the world, he said, would only encourage Russian President Vladimir Putin. “There is no really strong pressure on Russian leadership and we cannot stop this atrocity. Sanctions certainly help.”
On Sunday evening, President Donald Trump said he was not happy with Putin.
“I’ve known him for a long time, and I’ve always been with him, but he sends rockets to the city and kills people.
Washington’s special envoy to Ukraine, Keith Kellogg, condemned the Russian attack on X, calling it a “clear violation” of Geneva’s protocols. “These attacks are shameful. Stop the killing. A ceasefire now.”
Meanwhile, the Russian Ministry of Defense said its air defense had fired down 110 Ukrainian drones overnight.
“Sleepless night”
The sounds of explosions boomed throughout Kiev and surrounding areas as Ukrainian air defenses continued for hours in an effort to shoot down Russian drones and missiles. At least four people have been killed and 16 people have been injured in the capital itself, according to the security service.
“A difficult Sunday morning in Ukraine after a sleepless night,” Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andri Sibikha said in X.
Fires have been caused in homes and businesses, caused by falling drone debris.
In the Zhytomyr area west of Kyiv, emergency services said three children died at ages 8, 12 and 17. Twelve people said they were injured in the attack. At least four people have been killed in the Kumelnitsky region of western Ukraine. A man was killed in the Mykolav region of southern Ukraine.
Kyiv Mayor Klitschko said a student dormitory in the Holosiivskyi district was attacked by a drone, and one of the walls of the building was on fire. In the Dniprovskyi district, private property was destroyed, and in the Shevchenkivskyi district, windows of residential buildings were destroyed.
Regardless of the scale of Russian air weapon use, the attacks over the past 48 hours have been one of the most intense strikes against Ukraine since the February 2022 invasion.
Village surrounded by smoke and tiles
In Markharivka, just outside Kiev, where several village houses were burnt out, Federenkos saw a house ruined by tears.
“The streets look like Bahmut, like Mariupol, but that’s awful,” said 76-year-old Lyubov Federenko. She told the Associated Press that she is grateful that her daughter and grandchildren weren’t joining them over the weekend.
“I was trying to persuade my daughter to come to us,” Federenko told her daughter, “After all, you live on the eighth floor of Kiev.
“She said, ‘No, Mom, I’m not here.’ And I’m grateful that she didn’t come. Because the rocket was attacked on the side where the child’s room was,” Federenko said.
The fight never stops
Pow Exchange was the most recent score since the war began, but it was also the biggest swap involving Ukrainian civilians.
Still, it hasn’t stopped the fight. The battle continued along the frontline, approximately 1,000 kilometers (620 miles). There, tens of thousands of soldiers were killed, and neither country tolerated it due to deep strikes.
The Russian Ministry of Defense has said that Yaroslav Yakkinkin, a Russian military “north” group, had been pushed back from the border of the Kursk region on Sunday, where Ukrainian forces visited a few days ago.
“The military continues to advance every day,” Yakimkin added that Russian forces had taken Marines and Loknya in the Smie region of northeastern Ukraine, which borders Kursk last week.
Speaking on television in the Russian province on Sunday, Russian soldiers said Putin was reportedly flying through the Kursk region by helicopter when the area was hit by a heavy Ukrainian drone attack during his visit.
Putin’s helicopters “really reach an epicenter that will repel large-scale attacks by enemy drones,” said Yuri Dashkin, the said commander of Russia’s air defense division. He added that Russian air defense units fired down 46 drones during the incident.
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Yeroshenko reported from Markhalivka in Ukraine. Associated Press writer Elise Morton in London, Ali Swenson in Bridgewater, New Jersey, and Voldimir Yurcuk in Kiev, Ukraine contributed to the report.
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Follow the AP’s report on the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
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