The two nations swap hundreds of prisoners as Russia launches more drone attacks on Kyiv and Zelenskyy demands new sanctions.
Russia and Ukraine have exchanged more prisoners of war (POWs) as Ukrainian officials renew their calls for more sanctions in response to dozens of attack drones and ballistic missiles launched by Moscow’s forces at Kyiv overnight.
Russia’s Ministry of Defence said on Saturday it released 307 Ukrainian POWs in exchange for as many Russian servicemen, who are being cared for in Belarus before their return to Russia.
Ukraine confirmed the exchange, saying among those returned were army soldiers, agents of the State Border Guard Service, and members of the National Guard of Ukraine.
The two sides released 270 servicemen and 120 civilians each on the Ukrainian border with Belarus on Friday, as part of the biggest prisoner exchange since the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Both sides have agreed to exchange 1,000 prisoners, but the aerial attacks and ground fighting have not stopped.
Ukraine’s military on Saturday said overnight attacks launched from multiple Russian regions used 250 drones and 14 ballistic missiles to hit Kyiv and other areas, damaging several apartment buildings and a shopping mall, and injuring at least 15 people in the capital.
Sites in the Ukrainian regions of Dnipropetrovsk, Odesa and Zaporizhia were also hit, with Ukrainian forces saying six of the ballistic missiles were shot down by their air defences, along with 245 drones, many of which were said to be Iranian-designed.
Oleh Syniehubov, head of Kharkiv’s regional state administration, said on Saturday morning that four Ukrainians were killed and several others injured over the past 24 hours in the region as a result of multiple Russian attacks.
Meanwhile, Russia’s Ministry of Defence said at least 100 Ukrainian drones attempted to strike Russian targets overnight. It said 64 unmanned aerial vehicles were downed overnight in the skies of the Belgorod region, along with 10 additional drones launched on Saturday morning.
Dozens more projectiles were downed over Kursk, Lipetsk and Voronezh and another five were shot down over Tver, northwest of Moscow, it said.
‘Difficult night’
In a social media post, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the country had another “difficult night” that he believes should convince the world that “the reason for the war being dragged out is in Moscow”.
“It is obvious that we need to put much more pressure on Russia to get results and start real diplomacy. We are waiting for sanctions from the US, Europe and all our partners. Only additional sanctions against key sectors of the Russian economy will force Moscow to agree to a ceasefire.”
The Group of Seven nations threatened on Friday to impose further sanctions on Russia if it fails to agree to a ceasefire with Ukraine.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said a week after talks in Istanbul, Turkiye, led only to an agreement on the exchange of prisoners of war, that Moscow has yet to send any “peace memorandum”.
“Instead, Russia sends deadly drones and missiles at civilians,” he wrote in a post on X, adding that “increased sanctions pressure on Moscow is necessary to accelerate the peace process”.
Reporting from Kyiv, Al Jazeera’s John Hendren said the Istanbul meeting was disappointing for Zelenskyy because he wanted a face-to-face meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“Instead, it was a much lower-level meeting. But they did manage to get this prisoner swap,” he said, adding that the exchanges could be over by Sunday, but the details were not clear.
“Zelenskyy has been disappointed by the lack of additional US sanctions against Russia. Europe has agreed to new sanctions, but it’s not clear that they will really have the desired effect to bring Vladimir Putin to the negotiating table.”
