Russia and Ukraine swap hundreds of prisoners as airstrikes on Kyiv continue

Russia and Ukraine swapped hundreds more prisoners on Saturday, hours after a large-scale combined drone and missile attack injured more than a dozen people in the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv. Ukrainian officials reported that Russia launched a second round of drone strikes on Kyiv early Sunday. 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Russia’s defense ministry said each side brought home 307 soldiers, a day after each released a total of 390 combatants and civilians. The swaps are seen as a moment of cooperation in otherwise failed efforts to reach a ceasefire in the three-year war. Friday’s prisoner swap was the first phase of a complicated deal involving the exchange of 1,000 prisoners from each side.

The news of the prisoner swap came hours after Kyiv came under an attack that left at least 15 people injured, local officials said. Explosions and anti-aircraft fire were heard throughout Kyiv as many sought shelter in subway stations.

Russia attacked Ukraine with 14 ballistic missiles and 250 Shahed drones, officials said, adding that Ukrainian forces shot down six missiles and neutralized 245 drones – 1280 drones were shot down and 117 were thwarted using electronic warfare.

The Kyiv City Military Administration said it was one of the biggest combined missile and drone attacks on the capital.

“A difficult night for all of us,” the administration said in a statement.

However, Russia launched another set of drone strikes on Kyiv early on Sunday, injuring at least seven people, according to Reuters.

Timur Tkachenko, head of the city’s military administration, said four people requested medical aid after a five-story apartment building was struck in the Holosiivskyi district just outside the city center, Reuters said.

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said the building’s exterior was damaged, and three people were injured in other city districts, Reuters reported.

Tkachenko said “more than a dozen enemy drones” were in airspace around the capital early Sunday, according to the Agence France-Presse.

“New ones are also approaching. Some of the drones over Kyiv and the surrounding area have already been dealt with. But the new ones are still entering the capital,” he wrote on Telegram, per AFP.

Reuters witnesses heard anti-aircraft units in operation around the city.

The debris of intercepted missiles and drones from Saturday’s attack fell in at least six city districts of the Ukrainian capital early Saturday, acting head of Kyiv military administration, Tymur Tkachenko, wrote on Telegram. According to Tkachenko, six people required medical care after the attack and two fires were sparked in the Solomianskyi district of Kyiv.

The Obolon district, where a residential building was heavily damaged in the attack, was the hardest hit. There were at least five wounded in the area, the administration said.

Yurii Bondarchuk, a resident, said the air raid siren “started as usual, then the drones started to fly around as they constantly do.”

Moments later, he heard a boom and saw shattered glass fly through the air.

“The balcony is totally wiped out, as well as the windows and the doors,” he said, describing the damage to his apartment as he stood in the dark of the night, smoking a cigarette to calm his nerves while firefighters worked to extinguish the flames.

The air raid alert in Kyiv lasted more than seven hours, warning of incoming missiles and drones.

Prior to Saturday’s attack, Klitschko warned Kyiv residents of more than 20 Russian strike drones heading towards Kyiv. As the attack continued, he said drone debris fell on a shopping mall and a residential building in the Obolon district of Kyiv. Emergency services were headed to the site, Klitschko said.

The prisoner swap on Friday was the first phase of a complicated deal involving the exchange of 1,000 prisoners from each side.

Zelenskyy said the first phase brought home 390 Ukrainians, with further releases expected over the weekend that will make it the largest swap of the war. Russia’s Defense Ministry said it received the same number from Ukraine.

The swap took place at the border with Belarus in northern Ukraine, according to a Ukrainian official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly.

The released Russians were taken to Belarus for medical treatment, the Russian Defense Ministry said.

As the freed men entered the medical facility Friday, people holding signs and photos of their relatives shouted names or brigade numbers, seeking any news of a loved one. The returning men inspected the photos, and a serviceman said he shared a cell with one of those on the sea of portraits held out toward him.

“Vanya!” cried Nataliia Mosych, among the gathered relatives, “My husband!”

The exchange, the latest of dozens of swaps since the war began and the biggest involving Ukrainian civilians at one time, didn’t herald any halt in fighting.

Battles continued along the roughly 620-mile front line, where tens of thousands of soldiers have been killed, and neither country has relented in its deep strikes.

After the May 16 Istanbul meeting, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan called the prisoner swap a “confidence-building measure” and said the parties had agreed in principle to meet again.

But Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Friday that there has been no agreement yet on the venue for the next round of talks to end the fighting as diplomatic maneuvering continued.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Friday night that Moscow would give Ukraine a draft document outlining its conditions for a “sustainable, long-term, comprehensive” peace agreement once the ongoing prisoner exchange had finished.

European leaders have accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of dragging his feet in peace efforts while he tries to press his larger army’s battlefield initiative and capture more Ukrainian land.

The Istanbul meeting revealed that both sides remained far apart on key conditions for ending the fighting. One such condition for Ukraine, backed by its Western allies, is a temporary ceasefire as a first step toward a peaceful settlement.

On Monday, President Trump said he held a two-hour phone call with Putin which he described as “excellent.”

Asked by reporters if he thinks Putin wants peace, Mr. Trump responded, “I do,” and asked if he trusts Putin, Mr. Trump responded, “I do.”

Mr. Trump added that he thinks “some progress has been made.” 

Meanwhile, Russia’s Defense Ministry said it had shot down 788 Ukrainian drones away from the battlefield between May 20 and May 23.

Ukraine’s air force said Russia fired 175 Shahed and decoy drones, as well as a ballistic missile since late Thursday.