
Ukrainian prisoners of war embrace loved ones in emotional reunion after Russia prisoner swap
Buses carrying 307 Ukrainian prisoners of war arrived at an undisclosed location in Ukraine on Saturday, 24 May, where emotional reunions unfolded between the returning soldiers and their families.
The exchange with Russia, confirmed by both Kyiv and Moscow, is part of a broader agreement aimed at repatriating 1,000 individuals from both sides.
'Among those who returned today are soldiers from our army, the State Border Service, and the National Guard of Ukraine,' President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Telegram.
The swap follows a similar exchange on Friday involving 390 personnel and civilians. Returnees will receive medical and psychological support.
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The Guardian
27 minutes ago
- The Guardian
‘Five years from now, these readers will be soldiers': The Russian literature encouraging teens to enlist
'Z literature', a subgenre of Russian fantasy fiction characterised by nationalistic, pro-war storylines, has been on the rise since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine began three years ago and may be pushing young readers towards enlisting in combat. Z literature – named after the 'Z' symbol of support for the invasion – often features popadantsy, or 'accidental travel' narratives, involving a protagonist being transported to pivotal moments in Russia's past and using modern knowledge to intervene and alter history in Russia's favour. 'Providing a powerful strain of jingoistic nostalgia, these narratives satisfy readers' yearning for the lost superpower status by rewriting the past,' according to Mediazona, the independent Russian news outlet which reported on the boom in Z literature in May. Z literature is targeted at young men who will soon be the focus of enlistment drives, said Colin Alexander, a senior lecturer in political communications at Nottingham Trent University. 'In times of war, all countries will try to inspire those demographics targeted [for] soldiering through a range of propaganda strategies.' While news broadcasts are often focused on by propaganda researchers, 'the reality is that publics are most inspired to serve the war effort through storytelling entertainment media and that excites and inspires. Russia is certainly using these well-trodden wartime emotional propaganda techniques, but it is important to state that wherever there is war we tend to find them.' These 'Russian hyper-nationalistic genre novels with their outsize heroics are significant because they are made outside the formal propaganda apparatus of the state,' said Nicholas O'Shaughnessy, emeritus professor of communications at Queen Mary, University of London. 'They are pieces of individual entrepreneurship but highly predictable, as if from a common template.' While the books 'connect of course with Hollywood hyper heroics' such as Captain America, and the 'literature imbibed by Victorian British schoolboys' such as the novels of GA Henry, 'the difference lies in their crudeness and the extent of their hypernationalism which takes them into the realms of fantasy. They retain not one shred of credibility.' 'They offer a binary world of hateful foreigners and wonderful Russians – or at least, Russians who become great after learning the lessons of experience,' he said. Books falling in the Z literature subgenre, according to Mediazona, include Crimean Cauldron by Nikolai Marchuk, in which Ukrainians are portrayed as Nazis and the whole world has turned against Russia, and White Z on the Front Armour by Mikhail Mikheev, about a Russian agent who enters Ukraine after the full-scale invasion begins and apprehends a western spy. 'The market is clearly young and male, but what is stunning is the coarseness. It would be funny if it were not really real. [The books] are tapping into a terrible appetite for destruction, deep yearnings for revenge and a strange view of the Russians as a kind of herrenvolk, a unique people. One source of this mythology is the belief that second world war victory was almost entirely of Russian authorship,' said O'Shaughnessy. Sign up to Bookmarks Discover new books and learn more about your favourite authors with our expert reviews, interviews and news stories. Literary delights delivered direct to you after newsletter promotion 'So these are master-race fantasies which to work require the diminution of other peoples, their subjugation – and arousing hatred is the lubricant for this.' Another example of Z literature, reported Mediazona, is PMC Chersonesus by Andrei Belyanin, a popadantsy story which sees a former marine on a mission to return artefacts to Crimea with a team resembling Aphrodite, Heracles and Dionysus. Along the way, they encounter other figures from Greek mythology and zombie Nazis. Their final mission involves stealing Scythian gold from the Netherlands – a plotline nodding to the real-life loaning of gold to an Amsterdam museum pre-annexation, which the Dutch supreme court ultimately decided should go to Ukraine, not Crimea. 'Five years from now, these readers will be soldiers,' Jaroslava Barbieri, a researcher at the University of Birmingham, told The Telegraph. 'The Kremlin isn't trying to appease aggression – it's cultivating it.' All healthy men aged between 18 and 30 must complete one year of service in the Russian military. Though conscripts in theory cannot serve on the frontlines, there have been reports of them signing combat contracts under duress.


Reuters
27 minutes ago
- Reuters
Ukraine-Russia, Colorado, Poland and tax bill
Follow on Apple or Spotify. Listen on the Reuters app. Russian and Ukrainian officials are due to meet in Istanbul for a second round of direct peace talks, a day after Ukraine launched one of its most ambitious attacks of the war. Eight people have been injured after a man yelled "Free Palestine" and threw incendiary devices into a crowd in Boulder, Colorado. Nationalist opposition candidate Karol Nawrocki has narrowly won Poland's presidential election, delivering a major blow to the centrist government. The Senate returns today with one of its first priorities to tackle U.S. President Donald Trump's tax and spending bill. Sign up for the Reuters Econ World newsletter here. Listen to the Reuters Econ World podcast here. Visit the Thomson Reuters Privacy Statement for information on our privacy and data protection practices. You may also visit to opt out of targeted advertising. Further Reading Steelmakers in South Korea, Vietnam tumble on Trump's new tariffs Gaza ministry says Israel kills more than 30 aid seekers, Israel denies DHS removes list of 'sanctuary' cities after sheriffs push back on non-compliant label Tulsa mayor announces $105 million trust to address impact of 1921 massacre Recommended Read: Trump cuts threaten safety training for America's most dangerous jobs Further Listening: Gen Z gender divide and the reshaping of democracy


Sky News
an hour ago
- Sky News
Roman Abramovich has kept a low profile since his Chelsea sale - but now he's in the chancellor's sights
Since being seen at peace talks early in the war, Roman Abramovich has kept a low profile for the last three years. The oligarch has neither supported nor condemned Russia's war on Ukraine publicly, positions that could bring risks and consequences. What we do know is that he has not approved the release of funds from the government-enforced sale of the Premier League club that provided his status beyond Russia. Under the threat of sanctions, Abramovich had tried to hold on to Chelsea while relinquishing control. Sanctions quashed that plan, as the government oversaw the unprecedented sale of one of the country's most successful teams. But one of Abramovich's last public statements, in March 2022, was a desire that "all victims of the war in Ukraine" benefit from the sale proceeds. That conflicts with the desire in Westminster for cash to only flow into humanitarian causes in Ukraine and not potentially into Russia, which started the war. So, the £2.5bn generated from selling the Blues remains frozen, unable to be released to a new foundation to help those most in need. Perhaps the dynamic would have changed had Donald Trump fulfilled a campaign pledge to swiftly end the war on his return to the Oval Office? The slow pace of any peace talks delays any prospect of sanctions on Abramovich being lifted anytime soon. Were they to be lifted, could Abramovich be in control of the destination of the windfall? Overseeing a foundation personally could provide a route back into public life. But will his close association with Vladimir Putin, which Abramovich has sought to deny, be too damaging in the long term? And there is still a trail of questions about Abramovich's business dealings. To Chelsea supporters, though, there is some longing for the days of relative stability and constant silverware under the Russian, whose huge investment transformed their fortunes from 2003 to 2021.