Russia and Ukraine exchanged hundreds more prisoners on Saturday (May 24, 2025) as a part of a significant swap that amounted to a uncommon second of cooperation in in any other case failed efforts to succeed in a ceasefire. The change got here hours after Kyiv got here underneath a large-scale Russian drone and missile attack that left at the very least 15 individuals injured.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Russia’s Defense Ministry stated either side introduced residence 307 more troopers on Saturday (May 24, 2025), a day after every launched a complete of 390 combatants and civilians.
Also learn | Editorial on No ceasefire: On the Russia-Ukraine struggle
“We expect more to come tomorrow,” Mr. Zelenskyy stated on his official Telegram channel. Russia’s Defense Ministry additionally stated it anticipated the change 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.
An explosion of a drone lights up the sky over the town throughout a Russian drone strike, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine on May 24, 2025.
| Photo Credit:
Reuters
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 struggle and civilian detainees every.
Officials stated 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 City Military Administration stated it was one of many greatest mixed missile and drone assaults on the capital.
“A difficult night for all of us,” the administration stated in a press release. Posting on X, Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha referred to as it “clear evidence that increased sanctions pressure on Moscow is necessary to accelerate the peace process.”
Meanwhile, the EU’s ambassador to Kyiv described it as “horrific.”
The particles of intercepted missiles and drones fell in at the very least six Kyiv metropolis districts. According to the appearing head of the town’s army administration, Tymur Tkachenko, six individuals required medical care after the attack and two fires had been sparked in Kyiv’s Solomianskyi district.
The Obolon district, the place a residential constructing was closely broken within the attack, was the toughest hit with at the very least 5 wounded within the space, the administration stated.
Firefighters sit outdoors an condominium constructing that was broken throughout a Russian drone strike, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine, on May 24, 2025.
| Photo Credit:
Reuters
Yurii Bondarchuk, an area resident, stated the air raid siren “started as usual, then the drones started to fly around as they constantly do.” Moments later, he heard a increase and noticed shattered glass fly by the air.
“The balcony is totally wiped out, as well as the windows and the doors,” he stated.
The air raid alert in Kyiv lasted more than seven hours, warning of incoming missiles and drones.
Kyiv’s Mayor, Vitalii Klitschko, warned residents forward of the attack that more than 20 Russian strike drones had been heading towards the town. As the attack continued, he stated drone particles fell on a shopping center and a residential constructing in Obolon. Emergency providers had been headed to the location, Klitschko stated.
Separately, 13 civilians had been killed on Friday (May 23, 2025) and in a single day into Saturday (May 24, 2025) in Russian assaults in Ukraine’s south, east and north, regional authorities stated. Three individuals died after a Russian ballistic missile focused port infrastructure in Odesa on the Black Sea, native Gov. Oleh Kiper stated.
Russia’s Defense Ministry on Saturday (May 24, 2025) claimed its forces in a single day struck numerous army targets throughout Ukraine, together with missile and drone-producing crops, a reconnaissance middle and a launching web site for anti-aircraft missiles.
The prisoner swap on Friday (May 23, 2025) was the first section of an advanced deal involving the change of 1,000 prisoners from either side.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated the primary section of the deal introduced residence 390 Ukrainians, with additional releases anticipated over the weekend, which can make it the most important swap of the struggle. Russia’s Defense Ministry stated it acquired the identical variety of individuals from Ukraine.
The swap occurred on the border with Belarus, in northern Ukraine, based on 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 Defense Ministry stated.
However, the change — the most recent of dozens of swaps for the reason that struggle started and the largest involving Ukrainian civilians to date — didn’t herald a halt within the preventing.
Battles continued alongside the roughly 1,000-kilometer (620-mile) entrance line, the place tens of 1000’s of troopers have been killed, and neither nation has relented in its deep strikes.
After the May 16 Istanbul assembly, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan referred to as the prisoner swap a “confidence-building measure” and stated the events had agreed in precept to satisfy once more.
But Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov stated on Friday (May 23, 2025) that there was no settlement but on the venue for the following spherical of talks as diplomatic maneuvering continued.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov stated Moscow would give Ukraine a draft doc outlining its circumstances for a “sustainable, long-term, comprehensive” peace settlement, as soon as the continuing prisoner change had completed.
European leaders have accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of dragging his ft in peace efforts whereas he tries to press his bigger military’s battlefield initiative and seize more 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 Defense Ministry stated it had shot down 788 Ukrainian drones away from the battlefield between May 20 and May 23.
Published – May 24, 2025 06:20 pm IST
