Russia launches huge drone-and-missile attack on Ukraine after prisoner swap

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Moscow and Kyiv engaged in a significant prisoner exchange on Sunday, marking a rare instance of cooperation amid ongoing hostilities.

The Russian defense ministry confirmed the swap, the third such exchange in a series that began on Friday. This latest exchange saw 303 soldiers returned to each side, following the release of 307 combatants and civilians on Saturday, and 390 on Friday.

The combined exchanges represent the largest prisoner swap in over three years of conflict.

The announcement came hours after a massive Russian drone-and-missile attack targeted the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, and other regions in the country for a second consecutive night, killing at least 12 people and injuring dozens, officials said early Sunday.

The scale of the onslaught was stunning — Russia hit Ukraine with 367 drones and missiles, making this the largest single aerial attack of the more than three-years-long 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 told The Associated Press.

It was “the most massive strike in terms of the number of air attack weapons on the territory of Ukraine since the beginning of the full-scale invasion in 2022,” Ihnat said.

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For Kyiv, the day was particularly somber as the city observed Kyiv Day, a national holiday that falls on the last Sunday in May, commemorating its founding in the 5th century,

‘Deliberate strikes on ordinary cities’

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russian missiles and drones hit more than 30 cities and villages and urged Western partners to ramp up sanctions on Russia.

That has been a long-standing demand of the Ukrainian leader but one that — despite warnings to Moscow by the United States and Europe — have not materialized in ways to deter Russia.

“These were deliberate strikes on ordinary cities,” Zelenskyy wrote on X, adding that Sunday’s targets included Kyiv, Zhytomyr, Khmelnytskyi, Ternopil, Chernihiv, Sumy, Odesa, Poltava, Dnipro, Mykolaiv, Kharkiv and Cherkasy regions.

“Without truly strong pressure on the Russian leadership, this brutality cannot be stopped. Sanctions will certainly help,” Zelenskyy said. “Determination matters now — the determination of the United States, of European countries, and of all those around the world who seek peace.”

Meanwhile, the Russian Defence Ministry claimed its troops have taken control of the village of Romanivka in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region on Sunday.

A map of Romanivka:

The prisoner swap was the only tangible outcome from peace talks in Istanbul earlier this month that have so far failed to produce a ceasefire and a rare moment of cooperation between the warring sides.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said emanwhile that its air defenses shot down 110 Ukrainian drones overnight.

The ‘most massive Russian air attack’

Sounds of explosions boomed throughout the night in Kyiv and the surrounding area as Ukrainian air defense persisted for hours in efforts to shoot down Russian drones and missiles. At least four people were killed and 16 were injured in the capital itself, according to the security service.

“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 on X.

Fires broke out in homes and businesses, set off by falling drone debris.

In Zhytomyr region, west of Kyiv, the emergency service said three children were killed, aged 8, 12 and 17. Twelve people were injured in the attacks, it said. At least four people were killed in the Khmelnytskyi region, in western Ukraine. One man was killed in Mykolaiv region, in southern Ukraine.

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said a student dormitory in Holosiivskyi district was hit by a drone and one of the building’s walls was on fire. In Dniprovskyi district, a private house was destroyed and in Shevchenkivskyi district, windows in a residential building were smashed.

The scale of Russia’s use of aerial weapons aside, the attacks over the past 48 hours have been among the most intense strikes on Ukraine since the February 2022 invasion.

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In Markhalivka, just outside Kyiv where several village homes were burned down, the Fedorenkos watched their ruined home in tears.

“The street looks like Bakhmut, like Mariupol, it’s just terrible,” says 76-year-old Liubov Fedorenko, comparing their village to some of Ukraine’s most devastated cities. She told the AP she was grateful her daughter and the grandchildren hadn’t joined them for the weekend.

“I was trying to persuade my daughter to come to us,” Fedorenko said, adding that she told her daughter, “After all, you live on the eighth floor in Kyiv, and here it’s the ground floor.”‘

“She said, ‘No, mum, I’m not coming.’ And thank God she didn’t come, because the rocket hit (the house) on the side where the children’s rooms were,” Fedorenko said.

Ivan Fedorenko, 80, said he regrets letting their two dogs into the house when the air raid siren went off. “They burned to death,” he said. “I want to bury them, but I’m not allowed yet.”