US ‘silence' encouraging Putin, says Zelensky, after Russia launches record air assault
CNN — Russia launched its largest aerial assault of its three-year war on Ukraine overnight, targeting the capital and other regions with missiles and drones for a second night in a row, prompting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to rebuke the US for its 'silence.'
At least 12 people were killed in the attacks across Ukraine, including children, officials said. Dozens more people were injured.
Among those killed were three children from the same family in the Zhytomyr region – west of Kyiv – according to Ukraine's internal affairs minister Ihor Klymenko. He said their parents were hospitalized where the mother remains in a serious condition.
The children's school expressed its condolences on Facebook. 'We are in pain. The whole school family… We bow our heads in sorrow,' it said.
Russia has been intensifying its aerial bombardment of Ukraine as international pressure mounts on Putin to accept a ceasefire proposal.
'Each such terrorist attack by Russia is a sufficient reason for new sanctions against Russia. Russia is dragging out this war and continues to kill every day,' Zelensky said in a post on Telegram Sunday morning.
'The world may go on vacation, but the war continues, despite weekends and weekdays. This cannot be ignored. America's silence, and the silence of others in the world, only encourages Putin,' he continued.
Later on Sunday, US President Donald Trump expressed frustration with Putin, saying, 'We're in the middle of talking, and he's shooting rockets into Kyiv and other cities.'
Speaking to reporters on his way back to Washington, D.C., Trump said: 'He's killing a lot of people, and I don't know what the hell happened to Putin. I've known him a long time. Always gotten along with him, but he's sending rockets into cities and killing people, and I don't like it at all.'
But Trump also turned his criticism toward Zelensky, saying in a post on Truth Social that the Ukrainian president was 'doing his Country no favors by talking the way he does. Everything out of his mouth causes problems, I don't like it, and it better stop.'
Trump's Special Envoy for Ukraine and Russia, Keith Kellogg, called Russia's overnight attacks a 'clear violation of the 1977 Geneva Peace Protocols designed to protect innocents.'
The assault overnight into Sunday came despite the largest prisoner swap of the war taking place, a rare moment of cooperation in a brutal conflict that shows little sign of ending.
Ukraine's Air Force said 367 aerial attack weapons – 69 missiles and 298 drones – were launched across 22 locations in Ukraine overnight into Sunday. It added 47 of those missiles and 266 drones were intercepted.
Russia's previous record-breaking aerial attack on Ukraine was just last weekend when Russia launched 273 drones in one night.
Firefighters try to put out a fire following a Russian attack in Kyiv on Sunday.
Ukrainian Emergency Service/AP
A municipal worker cleans an apartment building in Kyiv that was damaged in a Russian drone strike on Sunday.
Thomas Peter/Reuters
'A difficult Sunday morning in Ukraine after a sleepless night. The most massive Russian air attack in many weeks lasted all night,' Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said in a post on social media platform X.
In the capital Kyiv, air raid sirens blared for hours and residents were warned to stay in shelters in the early hours of Sunday as officials said the city faced a second night in a row of drone and missiles attacks. Civilian buildings in multiple districts were damaged as Russia mounted an attack using drones and rockets, authorities said.
The overnight assault came a day after another wave of Russian attacks, which killed at least 13 people.
Prisoner swap
Over 600 Russian and Ukrainian prisoners were exchanged Sunday, the final phase of the 1,000-for-1,000 prisoner exchange the two sides had agreed to – the only significant outcome of the meeting between Kyiv and Moscow in Istanbul last week.
Russia's defense ministry said 303 Russian servicemen were exchanged for the same number of Ukrainian prisoners of war.
Videos posted to social media by Zelensky and other officials show the hundreds of released Ukrainian men with shaved heads calling their loved ones on the phone whilst draped in Ukrainian flags. One video posted by the country's ombudsman shows three men enjoying chocolate.
Over 600 prisoners were released on Saturday and almost 800 people were released on Friday during the initial phases of the swap.
A Ukrainian serviceman hugs his wife after returning from captivity during a prisoner exchange between Russia and Ukraine Sunday, May 25, 2025
Efrem Lukatsky/AP
Zelensky said Sunday he was 'grateful to the team that worked around the clock to successfully implement this exchange.'
The Istanbul meeting was initially proposed by Russian President Vladimir Putin in response to a ceasefire-or-sanctions ultimatum given to Moscow by Kyiv's European allies – which many saw as a clear attempt by the Kremlin leader to distract and delay.
Kyiv had hoped those talks would alleviate its casualties, but since then Russia has stepped up its bombardment.
'Without really strong pressure on the Russian leadership, this brutality cannot be stopped,' Zelensky said on Sunday, calling on the US and Europe to impose fresh sanctions.
US President Donald Trump has said he would not join in any new sanctions on Russia because he thought 'there's a chance' of progress, but remarked that could change. He has also pointed to potential economic incentives if the war concludes, but the latest Russian assault will renew the sense among Kyiv and its allies that trade with the US is not high on the list of Putin's priorities.
Meanwhile, Russia said that it also was attacked by Ukrainian drones on Sunday.
Russia's defense ministry said it intercepted or destroyed around 100 attack drones. Most of those destroyed were over Russia's central and southern regions, with 13 over the Moscow and Tver regions, the ministry said.
The defense ministry a day earlier claimed it had destroyed 94 Ukrainian UAVs over Russian territory, mostly over the Belgorod and Bryansk regions. Some UAVs were also shot down over the Kursk, Lipetsk, Voronezh and Tula regions too, it added.
The governor of the Tula region, Dmitry Miliaev, said Saturday three people were injured, including two who were hospitalized.
This story has been updated.
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