Russia, Ukraine complete largest prisoner swap, hours after Moscow’s massive airstrike

Russia and Ukraine swapped hundreds more prisoners on Sunday, the third and last part of a major exchange that reflected a rare moment of cooperation in otherwise failed efforts to reach a ceasefire in the more than three years of war.

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Hours earlier, the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, and other regions came under a massive Russian drone-and-missile attack that killed at least 12 people and injured dozens. Ukrainian officials described it as the largest aerial assault since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Russia’s Defence Ministry said each side brought home 303 more soldiers, after each released a total of 307 combatants and civilians on Saturday, and 390 on Friday — the biggest swap of the war.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy confirmed the exchange, saying on X on Sunday that “303 Ukrainian defenders are home.” He noted that the troops returning to Ukraine were members of the “Armed Forces, the National Guard, the State Border Guard Service, and the State Special Transport Service.” In talks held in Istanbul earlier this month — the first time the two sides met face to face for peace talks — Kyiv and Moscow agreed to swap 1,000 prisoners of war and civilian detainees each. The exchange has been the only tangible outcome from the talks.

The scale of the onslaught was stunning — Russia hit Ukraine with 367 drones and missiles, the largest single aerial attack of the war, according to Yuriy Ihnat, a spokesperson for Ukraine’s Air Force.

In all, Russia used 69 missiles of various types and 298 drones, including Iranian-designed Shahed drones, he said.

For Kyiv, the day was particularly sombre as the city observed Kyiv Day, a national holiday that falls on the last Sunday in May, commemorating its founding in the 5th century, Zelenskyy said Russian missiles and drones hit more than 30 cities and villages, and urged Western partners to ramp up sanctions on Russia — a longstanding demand of the Ukrainian leader but one that despite warnings to Moscow by the United States and Europe has not materialised in ways to deter Russia.

“America's silence, the silence of others in the world, only encourages Russian President Vladimir Putin,” he said.