By Agence France-Presse
In a statement on Sunday, May 25, officials said that thirteen people were killed as Russia launched a record number of drones against Ukraine overnight, even as Kyiv and Moscow completed their biggest prisoner exchange since the start of the war.
Ukraine’s emergency services described an atmosphere of “terror” amid a second straight night of massive Russian air strikes, including on the capital Kyiv.
The attacks came as the two countries completed their biggest prisoner swap since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022, with 1,000 captured soldiers and civilian prisoners sent back by each side.
Those killed in the latest Russian strikes included victims aged eight, 12 and 17 in the northwestern region of Zhytomyr, officials said.
“Without truly strong pressure on the Russian leadership, this brutality cannot be stopped,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on social media.
“The silence of America, the silence of others around the world only encourages Putin,” he said, adding: “Sanctions will certainly help.”
The European Union’s top diplomat, Kaja Kallas, called for “the strongest international pressure on Russia to stop this war”.
“Last night’s attacks again show Russia [is] bent on more suffering and the annihilation of Ukraine. Devastating to see children among innocent victims harmed and killed,” she said on social media.
Call for sanctions
“Putin does not want peace, he wants to carry on the war and we shouldn’t allow him to do this. For this reason we will approve further sanctions at a European level,” German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul said, denouncing the attacks.
Even U.S. President Donald Trump issued a rare rebuke to Putin on Sunday, May 25, saying he was “not happy” about the latest attack on Ukraine.
“I’ve known him a long time, always gotten along with him, but he’s sending rockets into cities and killing people, and I don’t like it at all,” Trump said.
Responding to a question, Trump said he was “absolutely” considering increasing U.S. sanctions on Russia in response to the violence.
Ukraine’s military said on Sunday that it had shot down a total of 45 Russian missiles and 266 attack drones overnight. Air force spokesperson Yuriy Ignat said 298 drones were launched, adding that this was “the highest number ever”.
Four people were reported killed in Ukraine’s western Khmelnytskyi region, and four in the Kyiv region. Two others were killed in the southern Mykolaiv region.
“We saw the whole street was on fire,” a 65-year-old retired woman, Tetiana Iankovska, told AFP in Markhalivka village just southwest of Kyiv.
Russia said its strikes were aimed at Ukraine’s “military-industrial complex” and that it had brought down 110 Ukrainian drones. The previous night, it launched 14 ballistic missiles and 250 drones, wounding 15 people, according to Ukrainian officials.
Flights at Moscow airports suffered temporary closures due to Ukrainian drone activity on Sunday but no injuries were reported, officials said.
Major prisoner exchange
The massive strikes on Ukraine came as Russia said it had exchanged another 303 Ukrainian prisoners of war for the same number of Russian soldiers held by Kyiv—the last phase of a swap agreed during talks in Istanbul on May 16.
Russia and Ukraine had over three days “carried out the exchange of 1,000 people for 1,000 people”, the defense ministry said.
Zelenskyy confirmed the swap was complete. Both sides received 390 people in the first stage on Friday and 307 on Saturday, May 24.
An AFP reporter saw some of the formerly captive Ukrainian soldiers arrive at a hospital in the northern Chernigiv region, emaciated but smiling and waving to crowds.
“It’s simply crazy. Crazy feelings,” 31-year-old Konstantin Steblev, a soldier, told AFP on May 23 as he stepped back onto Ukrainian soil after three years in captivity.
One former captive, 58-year-old Viktor Syvak, told AFP he was overcome by the emotional homecoming. Captured in the Ukrainian port city of Mariupol, he had been held for 37 months and 12 days.Â
“It’s impossible to describe. I can’t put it into words. It’s very joyful,” he said of the release.
On May 23, Trump congratulated the two countries for the swap, saying he hoped it “could lead to something big”.
His efforts to broker a ceasefire in Europe’s biggest conflict since World War II have so far been unsuccessful, despite his pledge to rapidly end the fighting.
