Russia strikes Kharkiv amid sparring over prisoner swap

A large Russian drone-and-missile attack targeted Ukraine’s eastern city of Kharkiv on Saturday, killing at least four people and injuring 21, local officials said. The barrage — the latest in near daily widescale attacks — included aerial glide bombs that have become part of a fierce Russian onslaught in the three-year war.

The intensity of the Russian attacks on Ukraine over the past weeks has further dampened hopes that the warring sides could reach a peace deal anytime soon — especially after Kyiv recently embarrassed the Kremlin with a surprising drone attack on military airfields deep inside Russia.

Ukraine denied Russian allegations on Saturday that it had indefinitely postponed prisoner swaps, accusing Moscow of “playing dirty games”.

Separately, Russian officials said a Ukrainian drone attack in the Moscow region wounded two people. At a second round of peace talks in Istanbul on Monday, the two sides agreed to swap more prisoners and return the bodies of 12,000 dead soldiers.

However, Kremlin aide Vladimir Medinsky said on Saturday Kyiv had unexpectedly postponed the exchanges indefinitely. This was denied by Andriy Kovalenko, an official with Ukraine’s National Security and Defence Council.

“Today’s statements by the Russian side do not correspond to reality or to previous agreements on either the exchange of prisoners or the repatriation of bodies,” he said.

‘Ukraine damaged 10% of russia’s bombers’

A Ukrainian drone attack last weekend likely damaged around 10% of Russia’s strategic bomber fleet and hit some of the aircraft as they were being prepared for strikes on Ukraine, a senior German military official said. “According to our assessment, more than a dozen aircraft were damaged, TU-95 and TU-22 strategic bombers as well as A-50 surveillance planes,” German Major General Christian Freuding said.

Moscow patents drones for space station’s upkeep

Russia has patented a technology for launching automatic spacecraft from an orbital station, which will become the world’s first drone platform equipped with robots for its maintenance.

This technology is planned to be tested at the Russian Orbital Station (ROS) and later applied in the exploration of the Moon.

First Deputy Prime Minister Denis Manturov told President Vladimir Putin at a meeting here that by 2030, Russia must ensure a planned transition to its own orbital station module-by-module.

The ROS “will become the world’s first drone platform equipped with robots for its maintenance. This is a patented solution of the Russian Federation,” Manturov said during the meeting on Friday.

“Testing of the technology will allow us to apply this format to our lunar programme,” Manturov was quoted by a news portal dedicated to cover technology issues.