Russia and Ukraine swap hundreds more prisoners, hours after a mass
strike on Kyiv
[May 24, 2025]
By ILLIA NOVIKOV and ALEX BABENKO
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia and Ukraine swapped hundreds more prisoners
on Saturday, as part of a major swap that was a moment of cooperation in
otherwise failed efforts to reach a ceasefire.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Russia’s defense ministry
said each side brought home 307 more soldiers, a day after each released
a total of 390 combatants and civilians.
The news came hours after Kyiv came under a large-scale Russian drone
and missile attack that left at least 15 people injured, according to
local officials. Explosions and anti-aircraft fire were heard throughout
Kyiv as many sought shelter in subway stations.
In talks held in Istanbul earlier this month that marked the first time
the two sides met face to face for peace talks since Russia's 2022
full-scale invasion, Kyiv and Moscow agreed to swap 1,000 prisoners of
war and civilian detainees each. It was a rare moment of cooperation in
otherwise failed efforts to reach a ceasefire in the 3-year-old war.
‘A difficult night’
Russia attacked Ukraine with 14 ballistic missiles and 250 Shahed drones
overnight, officials said, adding that Ukrainian forces shot down 6
missiles and neutralized 245 drones — 128 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.
The debris of intercepted missiles and drones fell in at least six city
districts of the Ukrainian capital. According to the acting head of
Kyiv's military administration, Tymur 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 local 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.
Kyiv's mayor, Vitalii Klitschko, warned residents ahead of the attack
that more than 20 Russian strike drones were heading toward the city. As
the attack continued, he said drone debris fell on a shopping mall and a
residential building in Obolon district of Kyiv. Emergency services were
headed to the site, Klitschko said.
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Emergency workers navigates his colleagues at the site of
residential building damaged after a Russian attack in Kyiv,
Ukraine, Saturday, May 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Alex Babenko)
A complex deal
The prisoner swap on Friday was the first phase of a complicated
deal involving the exchange of 1,000 prisoners from each side.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the first phase of the
deal brought home 390 Ukrainians, with further releases expected
over the weekend, which will make it the largest swap of the war.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said it received the same number of people
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.
However, the exchange — the latest of dozens of swaps since the war
began and the biggest involving Ukrainian civilians so far — did not
herald a halt in the fighting.
Battles continued along the roughly 1,000-kilometer (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 on Friday that there has
been no agreement yet on the venue for the next round of talks as
diplomatic maneuvering continued.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said 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.
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.
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