CNN
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Russia launched its largest aerial assault of its three-year war on Ukraine overnight, targeting the capital and other regions with missiles and drones for a second night in a row, even as the two sides wrapped up a major prisoner exchange.
At least 12 people were killed across Ukraine, including children, officials said. Dozens more people were injured.
Russia has been intensifying its aerial bombardment of Ukraine as international pressure mounts on Russian President Vladimir Putin to accept a ceasefire proposal.
The assault overnight into Sunday came despite the largest prisoner swap of the war taking place, a rare moment of cooperation in a brutal conflict that shows little sign of ending.
Ukraine’s Air Force said 367 aerial attack weapons – 69 missiles and 298 drones – were launched across 22 locations in Ukraine overnight into Sunday. It added 47 of those missiles and 266 drones were intercepted.
Russia’s previous record-breaking aerial attack on Ukraine was just last weekend when Russia launched 273 drones in one night.
“A difficult Sunday morning in Ukraine after a sleepless night. The most massive Russian air attack in many weeks lasted all night,” Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said in a post on social media platform X.
In the capital Kyiv, air raid sirens blared for hours and residents were warned to stay in shelters in the early hours of Sunday as officials said the city faced a second night in a row of drone and missiles attacks. Civilian buildings in multiple districts were damaged as Russia mounted an attack using drones and rockets, authorities said.
The overnight assault came a day after another wave of Russian attacks, which killed at least 13 people.
Over 600 Russian and Ukrainian prisoners were exchanged Sunday, Russia’s defense ministry said, the final phase of the 1,000-for-1,000 prisoner exchange the two sides had agreed to – the only significant outcome of the meeting between Kyiv and Moscow in Istanbul last week.
Russia’s defense ministry said 303 Russian servicemen were exchanged for the same number of Ukrainian prisoners of war.
Over 600 prisoners were released on Saturday and almost 800 people were released on Friday during the initial phases of the swap.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Sunday he was “grateful to the team that worked around the clock to successfully implement this exchange.”
Meanwhile, Russia said that it also was attacked by Ukrainian drones on Sunday.
Russia’s defense ministry said it intercepted or destroyed around 100 attack drones. Most of those destroyed were over Russia’s central and southern regions, with 13 over the Moscow and Tver regions, the ministry said.
The defense ministry a day earlier claimed it had destroyed 94 Ukrainian UAVs over Russian territory, mostly over the Belgorod and Bryansk regions. Some UAVs were also shot down over the Kursk, Lipetsk, Voronezh and Tula regions too, it added.
The governor of the Tula region, Dmitry Miliaev, said Saturday three people were injured, including two who were hospitalized.
The Istanbul meeting was initially proposed by Russian President Vladimir Putin in response to a ceasefire-or-sanctions ultimatum given to Moscow by Kyiv’s European allies – which many saw as a clear attempt by the Kremlin leader to distract and delay.
Ukraine and its allies demanded that Russia agree to an immediate and unconditional ceasefire in Istanbul, but there was no major breakthrough.
This story has been updated.
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