Russia Ramps Up Ukraine Strikes as Prisoner Swaps Continue

Ukraine said at least 12 people were killed in a second consecutive night of heavy Russian airstrikes, prompting President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to renew his call for more sanctions.

Attacks have intensified in recent days despite the two sides holding their first direct talks since 2022, as well as a phone call between US President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin. The increase in missile and drone assaults by Kremlin forces comes as the sides continue the exchange of 1,000 prisoners from each country in an arrangement that was the main tangible result of the negotiations in Istanbul.

Some 307 prisoners on each side were transferred near Ukraine’s northern border with Belarus, the Russian Defense Ministry said on Saturday, after 390 from each side were exchanged a day earlier. A third day of swaps is expected on Sunday.  

Yulia Svyrydenko, Ukraine’s first deputy prime minister, put the overnight death toll from ballistic missile, cruise missile and drone strikes across Ukraine at 12. 

State emergency services said early Sunday that four people had been killed and 16 injured in the Kyiv region, many of them children. 

“Russia is dragging out this war and continues to kill every day,” Zelenskiy said on the social media platform X. “Silence of America, silence of others around the world only encourage Putin.”

Even by the standards of Russia’s full-scale invasion, now well into its fourth year, the intensity of airstrikes on Ukraine’s capital and other regions this weekend has been notable.

Ukraine’s air defense forces said 266 of 298 drones targeting the country overnight had been shot down or jammed. Russia also fired a total of 69 ballistic and cruise missiles, with 45 cruise missiles downed, the Ukrainian military said. 

Among the targets struck and damaged in Kyiv in the latest barrage were a student dormitory, private housing and residential buildings, Mayor Vitali Klitschko said. Airstrikes were reported in at least 30 cities and villages from Ukraine’s south to central and western areas, and Kharkiv and Sumy in the northeast.

“This once again emphasizes the imperative of a full, unconditional, and durable ceasefire for any meaningful peace effort,” Sybiha said. “The world must pressure Russia to accept it and put an end to the killings immediately.”   

Separately, the Russian Defense Ministry said air defenses had repelled 110 Ukrainian drones, while aviation authorities reported disruption at several airports.