Russia and Ukraine finalized the most important trade of prisoners on Sunday that mirrored a uncommon second of cooperation in in any other case failed efforts to succeed in a ceasefire within the greater than three years of conflict.
Russia’s Protection Ministry stated all sides introduced residence 303 extra troopers after every launched a complete of 307 combatants and civilians on Saturday and 390 on Friday.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy confirmed the trade, writing on social media that “303 Ukrainian defenders are home.” He famous that the troops returning have been members of the “Armed Forces, the National Guard, the State Border Guard Service and the State Special Transport Service.”
A display seize from a video exhibits Russian troopers after Russia and Ukraine on Sunday confirmed the third and ultimate spherical of a large-scale prisoner swap carried out between Moscow and Kyiv beneath the phrases of an settlement reached in Istanbul earlier this month in Russia on Might 25, 2025.
Russian Protection Ministry / Handout/Anadolu by way of Getty Pictures
In talks held in Turkey earlier this month – the primary time the 2 sides met nose to nose for peace talks since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 – Kyiv and Moscow agreed to swap 1,000 prisoners of conflict and civilian detainees every. The talks, nevertheless, failed to supply a ceasefire between the warring nations.
As such, Russia has continued its offensive on Ukraine, launching a number of drone and missile assaults amid the prisoner swap.
Simply hours earlier than Sunday’s trade, Ukraine’s capital and different areas got here beneath an enormous Russian drone-and-missile assault that killed no less than 12 folks and injured dozens.
The size of onslaught was beautiful — Russia hit Ukraine with 367 drones and missiles, the most important single aerial assault of the greater than three-year-long conflict, in line with Yuriy Ihnat, a spokesperson for Ukraine’s Air Drive.
A constructing was broken on account of a Russian assault on Kyiv on Might 25, 2025.
Danylo Antoniuk/Anadolu by way of Getty Pictures
In all, Russia used 69 missiles of varied varieties and 298 drones, together with Iranian-designed Shahed drones, he instructed The Related Press.
There was no speedy remark from Moscow on the strikes.
Zelenskyy stated Russian missiles and drones hit greater than 30 cities and villages and urged Western companions to ramp up sanctions on Russia — a longstanding demand of the Ukrainian chief however one which, regardless of warnings to Moscow by america and Europe, has not materialized in methods to discourage Russia.
“These were deliberate strikes on ordinary cities,” Zelenskyy posted on social media, including that Sunday’s targets included Kyiv, Zhytomyr, Khmelnytskyi, Ternopil, Chernihiv, Sumy, Odesa, Poltava, Dnipro, Mykolaiv, Kharkiv and Cherkasy areas.
“Without truly strong pressure on the Russian leadership, this brutality cannot be stopped. Sanctions will certainly help,” Zelenskyy stated. “Determination matters now — the determination of the United States, of European countries, and of all those around the world who seek peace.”
Policemen and utility employees stand in entrance of a residential constructing broken by a Russian air assault on Might 25, 2025 in Kyiv, Ukraine.
Oleksandr Gusev/World Pictures Ukraine by way of Getty Pictures
Russia’s Protection Ministry stated, in the meantime, that its air defenses shot down 110 Ukrainian drones in a single day.
The size of Russia’s use of aerial weapons apart, the assaults over the previous 48 hours have been among the many most intense strikes on Ukraine because the February 2022 invasion.
In the meantime, battles have continued alongside the roughly 620-mile entrance line, the place tens of 1000’s of troopers have been killed, and neither nation has relented in its deep strikes.
Russia’s Protection Ministry quoted Yaroslav Yakimkin of the “North” group of Russian forces as saying Sunday that Ukrainian troops have been pushed again from the border within the Kursk area, which Russian President Vladimir Putin visited days in the past.
“The troops continue to advance forward every day,” Yakimkin stated, including that Russian forces have taken Marine and Loknya in Ukraine’s northeastern Sumy area, which borders Kursk, over the previous week, and have been advancing within the Kharkiv area across the largely destroyed city of Vovchansk.
