Russia and Ukraine confirmed they exchanged 303 prisoners on Sunday, May 25 in the last part of the most recent swap in this conflict. This came after what Ukrainian officials said was the largest aerial attack by Russia since the country invaded in February 2022.
The Associated Press and other media outlets reported that the Russian drone-and-missile assault killed at least 12 people and injured dozens more in the early hours of May 25.
Final phase of the prisoner exchange
This latest prisoner exchange comes after talks between Russia and Ukraine that happened during the week of May 11 in Istanbul. A ceasefire deal was not agreed upon in these discussions, however.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy shared pictures of Ukrainians coming home on X on Sunday, May 25, writing in a caption that “we must return all our people from Russian captivity.”
Those who came back included those part of Ukraine’s Armed Forces, the National Guard, the State Border Guard Service and the State Special Transport Service, Zelenskyy noted.
Sunday attacks on Ukraine
In total, Russia hit Ukraine with 367 drones and missiles, Yuriy Ihnat, a spokesperson for Ukraine’s Air Force. said in an interview with the AP.
Zelenskyy said targets were “Kyiv and the region, as well as Zhytomyr, Khmelnytskyi, Ternopil, Chernihiv, Sumy, Odesa, Poltava, Dnipro, Mykolaiv, Kharkiv and Cherkasy.” Dormitories in a Kyiv university were hit, Zelenskyy added.
“Tragically, people were killed,” Zelenskyy said.
Zelenskyy advocated on X for more sanctions against Russia, which the Ukrainian president said is “dragging out this war.”
“Silence of America, silence of others around the world only encourages Putin,” Zelenskyy said.
Andrii Sybiha, Ukraine’s Foreign Minister, said it had been a “difficult Sunday morning in Ukraine after a sleepless night.” He said three children were among those who died.
“When the entire world calls for an end to the killing, Putin orders even more strikes, attacks and murders of children,” Sybiha said. “This once again emphasizes the imperative of a full, unconditional and durable ceasefire for any meaningful peace effort. The world must pressure Russia to accept it and put an end to the killings immediately.”
On the same day of these attacks, Ukraine was remembering Kyiv Day. A national holiday that falls on the last Sunday of the month, Kyiv Day commemorates the founding of the country’s capital city.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said it shot down 110 Ukrainian drones on the same night. A serviceman from Russia said on state TV that Putin had been flying over the Kursk region in a helicopter when this occurred.
According to the AP, Yaroslav Yakimkin of the “North” group of Russian forces said Ukrainian troops were pushed back from the border in the Kursk region.
“The troops continue to advance forward every day,” Yakimkin said. Russian forces took Marine and Loknya in Ukraine’s northeastern Sumy region, Yakimkin said, and had advanced in the Kharkiv region.
Attacks went on all weekend
Beginning on Friday, May 23 and going into Saturday, May 24, Russia launched 14 ballistic missiles and 250 Shahed drones at Ukraine. Of these, Ukrainian troops shot six missiles and “neutralized” 245 drones, the AP said.
Residential buildings in Kyiv were damaged, and at least 15 people were injured, Sybiha said.
About 13 civilians were killed when Russia attacked Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk Region; southern Odesa and Kherson regions and northeast Kharkiv region, the BBC wrote.
