Ukraine, Russia swap hundreds more POWs
Kyiv/Moscow – Russia and Ukraine on Saturday said another 307 prisoners of war (POWs) had been swapped in the second day of the largest exchange since the start of the war.
'Among those who returned today are soldiers from our army, the State Border Service, and the National Guard of Ukraine,' Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on his official Telegram channel.
Meanwhile, Russia's defence ministry added that it expected the exchange of prisoners to continue, without offering more details.
On Friday, Zelenskyy and Russia's Defence Ministry said they had each handed over 390 POWs.
The Russian Defence Ministry added each side released 270 soldiers and 120 civilians.
The prisoner swap is the first stage of the '1000-for-1000' exchange agreement reached during the Russian-Ukrainian talks in Istanbul, Zelenskyy wrote on X.
After more than three years of fighting, both countries are holding thousands of prisoners of war. Russia is believed to hold the larger share, with an estimated 8,000 to 10,000 Ukrainian captives.
The swap comes amid renewed diplomatic initiatives to end the war.
Russian and Ukrainian officials held face-to-face negotiations in Istanbul last week for the first time since 2022, the year Moscow launched its invasion.
Russian attack injures several
Meanwhile, Kyiv came under a large-scale Russian drone and missile attack early on Saturday morning.
Blasts and machine gun fire were heard across the Ukrainian capital, forcing many residents to take shelter in subway stations.
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said two residents had required hospital treatment, and air defence units had been deployed to fend off the attack.
Air defences activated: Kyiv mayor
'Explosions in the capital,' Klitschko wrote on Telegram. 'Air defences have been activated. The city and the region are under a combined enemy attack.'
Klitschko said fragments from one drone hit the top floor of an apartment block in the Solomyanskyi district of the Ukrainian capital. One apartment block was ablaze in the area as was one non-residential building.
At least eight people were wounded in the 'massive' attack, Klitschko said.
The head of the capital's civil and military administration, Tymur Tkachenko, reported two blazes in the Sviatochynskyi district, missile debris falling in the Obolonskyi district, and drone debris falling on a residential building in the Solomianskyi area, which lies in the city's west.
On Friday, Russian missiles killed two people and wounded several others in the Ukrainian port city of Odesa, according to authorities.
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