Russia and Ukraine swapped hundreds of prisoners on Sunday in a rare moment of cooperation — hours after Moscow launched its largest drone-and-missile attack against the other country. Each side has released nearly a thousand soldiers and civilians over the past three days, even as the war continued with unabated intensity. At least 12 people were killed and dozens injured during the attack on Saturday night, with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky noting hours later that rescuers continued to work in more than 30 cities and villages.
The prisoner swap came weeks after leaders from the two countries held their first face-to-face talks in three years. Both Russia and Ukraine released 390 people on Friday and another 307 combatants and civilians on Saturday. The third and final swap took place on Sunday afternoon with authorities from both sides confirming the release of 303 soldiers. Zelensky also noted that the troops returning to Ukraine were members of the “Armed Forces, the National Guard, the State Border Guard Service, and the State Special Transport Service.”
The exchange has been the only tangible outcome from the talks and fighting appears to have escalated this week. The scale of the onslaught on Saturday night was was stunning — Russia reportedly hitting Ukraine with 367 drones and missiles. Ukrainian Air Force spokesperson Yuriy Ihnat told AP that this was the single aerial attack of the war. He confirmed that Russia had used 69 missiles of various types and 298 drones, including Iranian-designed Shahed drones.
Meanwhile the Russian defence ministry reportedly said it had inflicted damage on several targets (across 142 areas) including military airfields, ammunition depots and electric warfare stations. Moscow also claimed that its air defenses had shot down 110 Ukrainian drones overnight.
Russian President Vladimir Putin had launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 and Moscow is currently believed to control around 20% of Ukrainian territory. Battles have continued along the roughly 1,000-kilometer front line, where tens of thousands of soldiers have been killed over the past three years and both countries have also launched ‘deep’ strikes.
Russia’s Defense Ministry quoted Yaroslav Yakimkin of the “North” group of Russian forces as saying Sunday that Ukrainian troops have been pushed back from the border in the Kursk region, which Putin visited days ago.
“The troops continue to advance forward every day,” Yakimkin said, adding that Russian forces have taken Marine and Loknya in Ukraine’s northeastern Sumy region, which borders Kursk, over the past week, and were advancing in the Kharkiv region around the largely destroyed town of Vovchansk.
Speaking on Russian state TV on Sunday, a Russian serviceman said that Putin was reportedly flying over the Kursk region in a helicopter when the area came under intense Ukrainian drone attack during his visit. Putin’s helicopter was “virtually at the epicenter of repelling a large-scale attack by the enemy’s drones,” said Yuri Dashkin, described as commander of a Russian air defense division. He added that Russian air defense units shot down 46 drones during the incident.
(With inputs from agencies)