The 2 nations swap lots of of prisoners as Russia launches extra drone assaults on Kyiv and Zelenskyy calls for new sanctions.
Russia and Ukraine have exchanged extra prisoners of conflict (POWs) as Ukrainian officers renew their requires extra sanctions in response to dozens of assault drones and ballistic missiles launched by Moscow’s forces at Kyiv in a single day.
Russia’s Ministry of Defence mentioned on Saturday it launched 307 Ukrainian POWs in trade for as many Russian servicemen, who’re being cared for in Belarus earlier than their return to Russia.
Ukraine confirmed the trade, saying amongst these returned had been military troopers, brokers of the State Border Guard Service, and members of the Nationwide Guard of Ukraine.
The 2 sides released 270 servicemen and 120 civilians every on the Ukrainian border with Belarus on Friday, as a part of the most important prisoner trade because the begin of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Either side have agreed to trade 1,000 prisoners, however the aerial assaults and floor preventing haven’t stopped.
Ukraine’s army on Saturday mentioned overnight attacks launched from a number of Russian areas used 250 drones and 14 ballistic missiles to hit Kyiv and different areas, damaging a number of condominium buildings and a shopping center, and injuring at the very least 15 folks within the capital.
Websites within the Ukrainian areas of Dnipropetrovsk, Odesa and Zaporizhia had been additionally hit, with Ukrainian forces saying six of the ballistic missiles had been shot down by their air defences, together with 245 drones, a lot of which had been mentioned to be Iranian-designed.
Oleh Syniehubov, head of Kharkiv’s regional state administration, mentioned on Saturday morning that 4 Ukrainians had been killed and a number of other others injured over the previous 24 hours within the area because of a number of Russian assaults.
In the meantime, Russia’s Ministry of Defence mentioned at the very least 100 Ukrainian drones tried to strike Russian targets in a single day. It mentioned 64 unmanned aerial autos had been downed in a single day within the skies of the Belgorod area, together with 10 further drones launched on Saturday morning.
Dozens extra projectiles had been downed over Kursk, Lipetsk and Voronezh and one other 5 had been shot down over Tver, northwest of Moscow, it mentioned.
‘Troublesome evening’
In a social media publish, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy mentioned the nation had one other “troublesome evening” that he believes ought to persuade the world that “the explanation for the conflict being dragged out is in Moscow”.
“It’s apparent that we have to put way more strain on Russia to get outcomes and begin actual diplomacy. We’re ready for sanctions from the US, Europe and all our companions. Solely further sanctions in opposition to key sectors of the Russian economic system will drive Moscow to comply with a ceasefire.”
The Group of Seven nations threatened on Friday to impose additional sanctions on Russia if it fails to agree to a ceasefire with Ukraine.
Ukrainian International Minister Andrii Sybiha mentioned every week after talks in Istanbul, Turkiye, led solely to an settlement on the trade of prisoners of conflict, that Moscow has but to ship any “peace memorandum”.
“As an alternative, Russia sends lethal drones and missiles at civilians,” he wrote in a publish on X, including that “elevated sanctions strain on Moscow is critical to speed up the peace course of”.
Reporting from Kyiv, Al Jazeera’s John Hendren mentioned the Istanbul assembly was disappointing for Zelenskyy as a result of he wished a face-to-face assembly with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“As an alternative, it was a a lot lower-level assembly. However they did handle to get this prisoner swap,” he mentioned, including that the exchanges may very well be over by Sunday, however the particulars weren’t clear.
“Zelenskyy has been upset by the shortage of further US sanctions in opposition to Russia. Europe has agreed to new sanctions, nevertheless it’s not clear that they may actually have the specified impact to deliver Vladimir Putin to the negotiating desk.”
