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 struggle (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 have been military troopers, brokers of the State Border Guard Service, and members of the Nationwide Guard of Ukraine.
The 2 sides launched 270 servicemen and 120 civilians every on the Ukrainian border with Belarus on Friday, as a part of the largest prisoner trade because the begin of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Each side have agreed to trade 1,000 prisoners, however the aerial assaults and floor combating haven’t stopped.
Ukraine’s army on Saturday mentioned in a single day assaults launched from a number of Russian areas used 250 drones and 14 ballistic missiles to hit Kyiv and different areas, damaging a number of residence buildings and a shopping center, and injuring no less than 15 folks within the capital.
Websites within the Ukrainian areas of Dnipropetrovsk, Odesa and Zaporizhia have been additionally hit, with Ukrainian forces saying six of the ballistic missiles have been shot down by their air defences, together with 245 drones, a lot of which have been mentioned to be Iranian-designed.
Oleh Syniehubov, head of Kharkiv’s regional state administration, mentioned on Saturday morning that 4 Ukrainians have been killed and several other others injured over the previous 24 hours within the area on account of a number of Russian assaults.
In the meantime, Russia’s Ministry of Defence mentioned no less than 100 Ukrainian drones tried to strike Russian targets in a single day. It mentioned 64 unmanned aerial autos have 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 have been downed over Kursk, Lipetsk and Voronezh and one other 5 have been shot down over Tver, northwest of Moscow, it mentioned.
‘Tough night time’
In a social media put up, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy mentioned the nation had one other “tough night time” that he believes ought to persuade the world that “the rationale for the struggle being dragged out is in Moscow”.
“It’s apparent that we have to put far 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 towards 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 comply with 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 struggle, that Moscow has but to ship any “peace memorandum”.
“As an alternative, Russia sends lethal drones and missiles at civilians,” he wrote in a put up on X, including that “elevated sanctions strain on Moscow is important 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 disenchanted by the dearth of further US sanctions towards Russia. Europe has agreed to new sanctions, however it’s not clear that they may actually have the specified impact to carry Vladimir Putin to the negotiating desk.”