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Ukraine and Russia completed a “1,000 for 1,000” prisoner swap on Sunday, the largest since the war began over three years ago. The exchange, which took place over the span of three days, took place amid heavy ongoing Russian airstrikes on Ukrainian cities.
The swap began on Friday and involved mainly prisoners of war, along with 120 civilians from each side. On the final day, both countries exchanged 303 prisoners.
“Today, warriors of our Armed Forces, the National Guard, the State Border Guard Service, and the State Special Transport Service are returning home,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a statement on Telegram.
Zelenskyy said that the government will bring back all Ukrainians from Russian captivity. “I thank the team that worked around the clock to successfully carry out this exchange. We will definitely bring back every single one of our people from Russian captivity,” he wrote on X.
The prisoner swap was the only tangible outcome of the first direct talks between Russia and Ukraine in over three years, held on May 16, where no ceasefire agreement was reached. Ukraine, the United States, and other Western nations have called for a 30-day halt to fighting without preconditions to allow for peace talks.
Hundreds of thousands of soldiers from both Russia and Ukraine are believed to have been killed or injured in what is now Europe’s deadliest conflict since World War II. However, neither side releases accurate casualty figures, news agency Reuters reported.
The war has also taken a heavy toll on civilians, with tens of thousands of Ukrainians killed as Russian forces continue to shell and besiege major cities.
On Friday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that once the prisoner exchange was completed, Moscow would be prepared to present Ukraine with a draft proposal for a long-term peace agreement.
Russian forces launched a barrage of 367 drones and missiles at Ukrainian cities overnight, including at the capital Kyiv, in the largest aerial attack of the war so far, killing at least 12 people and injuring dozens more, officials said.
A sweeping overnight Russian drone-and-missile attack killed at 12 people and injured dozens more across capital city Kyiv, Ukrainian officials said early Sunday.
Loud explosions echoed across Kyiv and its outskirts through the night as Ukrainian air defence systems intercepted incoming drones and missiles. Russia used about 367 drones and missiles, making this the largest single attack since the beginning of the war, according to a spokesperson for Ukraine’s Air Force.
While the number of those injured in the attacks was reported to be at 16 in Kyiv, several homes and businesses were damaged or set ablaze by the falling debris.
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