Ukraine war latest: Kyiv and Moscow exchange hundreds more prisoners

Fragments from a Russian drone triggered a fire and caused damage to an apartment building in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv early on Sunday, a senior Ukrainian official said.

Timur Tkachenko, head of the capital’s military administration, said the incident occurred in the Holosiivskyi district, just outside the city centre.

“The building has been partly destroyed and there is a fire. Rescue teams are at the site,” Tkachenko said.

Tkachenko earlier said there were 10 drones above the city and more coming.

A senior Ukrainian official said early on Sunday that more than 10 Russian drones were flying over the Ukrainian capital Kyiv and more were coming.

“There are more than 10 enemy drones in the airspace around the capital. More are coming,” Timur Tkachenko, head of Kyiv military administration, wrote on Telegram. “We are in for a complicated night. There is the threat of a large number of enemy drones and missiles aboard strategic aircraft.”

Witnesses heard anti-aircraft units in operation around the city.

Russian troops have captured the settlements of Stupochki, Otradne and Loknia in Ukraine’s Donetsk and Sumy regions, the Russian Defence Ministry said on Saturday.

The battlefield report has not been independently confirmed.

Since their failed advance on the capital Kyiv in the first weeks of the war, Russian forces have focused on capturing the Donbas in the east, made up of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions.

In recent months, Moscow has also tried to advance in Sumy region, particularly after Russia’s military said it had ousted Ukrainian troops from the Russian border region of Kursk.

A Russian Defence Ministry statement said its forces had captured the village of Stupochky in Donetsk region, east of Kostiantynivka, a town under recent Russian pressure.

It also said it had taken control of Otradne, a village further west along the 1,000-km front and announced the capture of Loknya, a village inside the Russian border in Sumy region.

Top finance officials from the world’s seven wealthiest democracies set aside stark differences on U.S. tariffs and agreed to counter global “economic imbalances,” a swipe at China’s trade practices.

In a communiqué issued Thursday, the Group of Seven finance ministers and central bank governors, meeting in the Canadian Rockies, left out their traditional defense of free trade and toned down their references to Russia’s war in Ukraine compared with last year. But they did agree that further sanctions on Russia could be imposed if the two countries don’t reach a ceasefire.

The communiqué said the G7 members would continue to monitor “nonmarket policies and practices” which contribute to imbalances in global trade. The statement did not mention China but nonmarket policies typically refer to that country’s export subsidies and currency policies that the Trump administration charges gives it an advantage in international trade.

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Volodymyr Zelensky has responded to a large scale attack from Russia on Saturday.

Taking to X, formerly known as Twitter, he said: “Every night, our forces work to protect lives. Today, there was a large-scale and vile Russian attack.

“Ballistic missiles — some were successfully intercepted. There were also 250 drones, mostly Shaheds. I am grateful to everyone helping Ukraine with air defence.

“Delivering air defence systems to us means real protection for people — here and now. Russia fills each day with horror and murder, it’s simply dragging out the war.

“All of this demands a response — a strong response from the United States, from Europe, and from everyone in the world who wants this war to end.

“Putin has refused to cease fire repeatedly. It gains him nothing, except taking lives every single day. Every day gives new grounds for sanctions against Russia. Every day proves that without pressure on Russia, the war will continue.

“Ukraine is ready for any form of diplomacy that delivers real results. We are ready for all steps that can guarantee true security. It is Russia that is not ready for anything.”

European leaders have accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of dragging his feet in peace efforts while he tries to press his larger army’s battlefield initiative and capture more Ukrainian land.

The Istanbul meeting revealed that both sides remained far apart on key conditions for ending the fighting. One such condition for Ukraine, backed by its Western allies, is a temporary ceasefire as a first step toward a peaceful settlement.

Russia’s Defence Ministry said that overnight and early on Saturday, its forces shot down over 100 Ukrainian drones over six provinces in western and southern Russia.

The drone strikes injured three people in the Tula region south of Moscow, local Gov. Dmitriy Milyaev reported, and sparked a fire at an industrial site there.

Andriy Kovalenko, of Ukraine’s National Security and Defence Council, said Saturday that the drones hit a plant in Tula that makes chemicals used in explosives and rocket fuel.