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Russia and Ukraine swap hundreds more prisoners hours after massive attack on Kyiv

Update Russia and Ukraine swap hundreds more prisoners hours after massive attack on Kyiv
Drone explosions light up the sky in the capital during Russian attack on Kyiv, Ukraine. (Reuters)
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Updated 24 May 2025

Russia and Ukraine swap hundreds more prisoners hours after massive attack on Kyiv

Russia and Ukraine swap hundreds more prisoners hours after massive attack on Kyiv
  • Russian overnight attacks have Kyiv residents fleeing to underground shelters in the capital
  • The attacks come after a prisoner swap exchange agreed by both Ukraine and Russia in Türkiye last week

KYIV, Ukraine: Russia and Ukraine exchanged hundreds more prisoners on Saturday as part of a major swap that amounted to a rare moment of cooperation in otherwise failed efforts to reach a ceasefire. The exchange came hours after Kyiv came under a large-scale Russian drone and missile attack that left at least 15 people injured.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky and Russia’s defense ministry said each side brought home 307 more soldiers on Saturday, a day after each released a total of 390 combatants and civilians. Further releases expected over the weekend are set to make the swap the largest in more than three years of war.

“We expect more to come tomorrow,” Zelensky said on his official Telegram channel. Russia’s defense ministry also said it expected the exchange to be continued, though it did not give details.

Hours earlier, explosions and anti-aircraft fire were heard throughout Kyiv as many sought shelter in subway stations as Russian drones and missiles targeted the Ukrainian capital overnight.

In talks held in Istanbul earlier this month — the first time the two sides met face to face for peace talks since Russia’s 2022 full-scale invasion — Kyiv and Moscow agreed to swap 1,000 prisoners of war and civilian detainees each.

‘A difficult night’

Officials said Russia attacked Ukraine with 14 ballistic missiles and 250 Shahed drones overnight while Ukrainian forces shot down six missiles and neutralized 245 drones — 128 drones were shot down and 117 were thwarted using electronic warfare.

The Kyiv City Military Administration said it was one of the biggest combined missile and drone attacks on the capital.

“A difficult night for all of us,” the administration said in a statement.

Posting on X, Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha called it “clear evidence that increased sanctions pressure on Moscow is necessary to accelerate the peace process.”

Katarina Mathernova, the European Union’s ambassador to Kyiv, described it as “horrific.”

“If anyone still doubts Russia wants war to continue — read the news,” Katarina Mathernová wrote on the social network.

Air raid alert in Kyiv

The debris of intercepted missiles and drones fell in at least six Kyiv city districts. According to the acting head of the city’s military administration, Tymur Tkachenko, six people required medical care after the attack and two fires were sparked in Kyiv’s Solomianskyi district.

The Obolon district, where a residential building was heavily damaged in the attack, was the hardest hit with at least five wounded in the area, the administration said.

Yurii Bondarchuk, a local resident, said the air raid siren “started as usual, then the drones started to fly around as they constantly do.” Moments later, he heard a boom and saw shattered glass fly through the air.

“The balcony is totally wiped out, as well as the windows and the doors,” he said as he stood in the dark, smoking a cigarette to calm his nerves while firefighters worked to extinguish the flames.

The air raid alert in Kyiv lasted more than seven hours, warning of incoming missiles and drones.

Kyiv’s mayor, Vitalii Klitschko, warned residents ahead of the attack that more than 20 Russian strike drones were heading toward the city. As the attack continued, he said drone debris fell on a shopping mall and a residential building in Obolon. Emergency services were headed to the site, Klitschko said.

Separately, 13 civilians were killed on Friday and overnight into Saturday in Russian attacks in Ukraine’s south, east and north, regional authorities said.

Three people died after a Russian ballistic missile targeted port infrastructure in Odesa on the Black Sea, local Gov. Oleh Kiper reported. Russia later said the strike Friday targeted a cargo ship carrying military equipment.

Russia’s defense ministry on Saturday claimed its forces overnight struck various military targets across Ukraine, including missile and drone-producing plants, a reconnaissance center and a launching site for anti-aircraft missiles.

A complex deal

The prisoner swap on Friday was the first phase of a complicated deal involving the exchange of 1,000 prisoners from each side

It took place at the border with Belarus, in northern Ukraine, according to a Ukrainian official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly.

The released Russians were taken to Belarus for medical treatment, the Russian Defense Ministry said.

However, the exchange — the latest of dozens of swaps since the war began and the biggest involving Ukrainian civilians so far — did not herald a halt in the fighting.

Battles continued along the roughly 1,000-kilometer (620-mile) front line, where tens of thousands of soldiers have been killed, and neither country has relented in its deep strikes.

After the May 16 Istanbul meeting, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan called the prisoner swap a “confidence-building measure” and said the parties had agreed in principle to meet again.

But Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Friday that there has been no agreement yet on the venue for the next round of talks as diplomatic maneuvering continued.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Moscow would give Ukraine a draft document outlining its conditions for a “sustainable, long-term, comprehensive” peace agreement, once the ongoing prisoner exchange had finished.

Far apart on key conditions

European leaders have accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of dragging his feet in peace efforts while he tries to press his larger army’s battlefield initiative and capture more Ukrainian land.

The Istanbul meeting revealed that both sides remained far apart on key conditions for ending the fighting. One such condition for Ukraine, backed by its Western allies, is a temporary ceasefire as a first step toward a peaceful settlement.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said that overnight and early on Saturday its forces shot down over 100 Ukrainian drones over six provinces in western and southern Russia.

The drone strikes injured three people in the Tula region south of Moscow, local Gov. Dmitriy Milyaev said, and sparked a fire at an industrial site there.

Andriy Kovalenko, of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council, said Saturday that the drones hit a plant in Tula that makes chemicals used in explosives and rocket fuel.


As Russia intensifies attacks, Ukraine air defenses under strain

Updated 16 sec ago

As Russia intensifies attacks, Ukraine air defenses under strain

As Russia intensifies attacks, Ukraine air defenses under strain
KYIV: A wave of massive Russian aerial attacks has stretched Ukraine’s air defenses, raising fears about Kyiv’s reliance on Western systems to protect its skies in the fourth year of Russia’s invasion.
As the two sides open peace talks and Kyiv pushes for an immediate ceasefire, Moscow has launched its heaviest air assaults of the war, pummelling Ukraine with more than 900 drones and 90 missiles in a three-day barrage last weekend.
Ukraine downed over 80 percent of the incoming projectiles, but more than a dozen people were killed.
Experts worry how long the country can fend off the nightly attacks if Russia maintains — or escalates — its strikes.
“Ukraine’s air defenses are stretched thin and cannot guarantee protection for all cities against persistent and sophisticated Russian attacks,” military analyst Franz-Stefan Gady told AFP.
Russia’s drone and missile attacks have become more complex — and harder to thwart — throughout the war.
Kyiv’s air force says around 40 percent of drones launched recently are decoys — cheaper dummy craft that mimic attack drones and are designed to exhaust and confuse air defenses.
Russia increasingly sets drones to fly at a higher altitude — above 2,000 meters (6,500 feet) — and then dive down onto targets.
“At that altitude, they’re more visible to our radars but unreachable for small arms, heavy machine guns and mobile fire teams,” air force spokesman Yuriy Ignat told RBK Ukraine.
In addressing the threat, Ukraine is trying to strike a balance between pressing the West to deliver new systems and not wanting to concern a war-weary public at home.
“There’s no need to panic,” a Ukraine military source told AFP.
“We’re using all air defense systems that are available in Ukraine now, plus helicopters and aircraft. We are fighting somehow,” they said.


Moscow has the capacity to fire 300 to 500 drones a day, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said earlier this week.
“By scaling up the use of Shaheds, they are forcing us to resort to expensive options,” military analyst Sergiy Zgurets said, referring to the Iranian-designed drones that are packed with explosives to detonate as they crash into buildings.
“This is a war of attrition that must be based on economic grounds — we must shoot down Shaheds with less sophisticated alternatives,” he said.
Ukraine uses several tools to protect its skies — from advanced Western fighter jets and air defense batteries like the US-made Patriot anti-missile system, to small mobile air defense teams armed with guns.
New technology has also become vital, such as the electronic jamming of drones to make them drop from the sky.
Increasingly, interceptors are being deployed — smaller, cheaper drones that take on enemy drones mid-air.
“We are already using them. The question now is when we will be able to scale up,” Zelensky said of the interceptors.
He too sees the issue as one of economics.
“The question is no longer about production capacity... It is a financial issue,” he told journalists.


Beyond drones, Russia is also deploying super-fast ballistic missiles, which are much more difficult to intercept.
“The biggest vulnerability lies in defending against ballistic missiles,” said analyst Gady.
A midday strike last month on the northeastern city of Sumy killed at least 35 people, while a hit near a children’s playground in Zelensky’s home city of Kryvyi Rig left 19 dead, including nine children.
To fend off ballistic missile attacks, Ukraine relies on a small number of Patriot systems.
They are concentrated around Kyiv, leaving other areas more exposed than the relatively better-protected capital.
Gady said the current supply of missiles for them is “sufficient” given the level of Russian strikes at the moment.
“But it is generally insufficient when compared to Russian ballistic missile production.”
Ukraine also faces potential shortages given delays in US output, according to Zgurets, creating “gaps” in Ukraine’s “fight against enemy hypersonic targets and ballistics.”
Deliveries of other key Western systems are expected over the next 18 months, but uncertainty is high given President Donald Trump’s criticism of aid for Ukraine.
US packages approved under predecessor Joe Biden are trickling in, but Trump has not announced any fresh support.
“Delivering air defense systems to us means real protection for people — here and now,” Zelensky said in a recent call for Western backing.
On a visit to Berlin on Wednesday, he said: “Defending our cities requires constant support with air defense systems.”

South Korean presidential frontrunner Lee Jae-myun proposes revising constitution on martial law

South Korean presidential frontrunner Lee Jae-myun proposes revising constitution on martial law
Updated 45 min 35 sec ago

South Korean presidential frontrunner Lee Jae-myun proposes revising constitution on martial law

South Korean presidential frontrunner Lee Jae-myun proposes revising constitution on martial law
  • More South Koreans turned out for early voting on Friday after reaching record numbers on Thursday
  • As of noon on Friday, 25.8 percent of eligible voters had voted, the highest turnout compared to other polls in the same period

SEOUL: South Korea’s left-wing presidential frontrunner Lee Jae-myung proposed on Friday to amend the constitution to make it more difficult to impose martial law, aiming to prevent political crises like the one that erupted last year.

As candidates entered their final stretch before the snap presidential election on June 3, Lee and his Democratic Party urged South Koreans to come out to vote to end the political turmoil that has gripped the country since ousted conservative leader Yoon Suk Yeol’s short-lived martial law declaration in December.

“Our national prestige has fallen, but it (martial law) happens. We have to make that impossible systematically,” Lee told a live-streaming talk show on YouTube.

“Overcoming the insurrection (crisis) is no-brainer. Without it, our country will collapse,” Lee said, adding that economic growth and unity would be among his other top priorities.

Lee said he would seek to revise the constitution to strengthen martial law requirements, for instance by not allowing leaders to implement martial law without getting parliament’s approval within 24 hours.

More South Koreans turned out for early voting on Friday after reaching record numbers on Thursday. Early voting ends at 6 p.m. (0900 GMT) on Friday.

As of noon on Friday, 25.8 percent of eligible voters had voted, the highest turnout compared to other polls in the same period.

Lee also said a special prosecutor should investigate the December 3 martial law incident to make sure those responsible were punished, although he called for leniency for those in the military who were reluctant to follow orders.

Yoon Yeo-jun, chair of the Democratic Party’s election campaign, said that the vote would be an opportunity to set the country right so that the “Yoon Suk Yeol tragedy would never happen again.”

Kim Moon-soo, Lee’s rival candidate from the conservative People Power Party, said he would stop “legislative dictatorship” by Lee’s Democratic Party that holds a majority in parliament.


Trump administration considers allowing tariffs of up to 15% for 150 days, WSJ reports

Trump administration considers allowing tariffs of up to 15% for 150 days, WSJ reports
Updated 54 min 50 sec ago

Trump administration considers allowing tariffs of up to 15% for 150 days, WSJ reports

Trump administration considers allowing tariffs of up to 15% for 150 days, WSJ reports

President Donald Trump’s administration is considering a stopgap effort to impose tariffs on large parts of the global economy under an existing law that includes language allowing for tariffs of up to 15 percent for 150 days, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday, citing people familiar with the matter.
The administration has not made a final decision and it could wait to impose any plans after a federal appeals court on Thursday temporarily reinstated the most sweeping of Trump’s tariffs following a trade court ruling to immediately block them, the report added.


Tens of thousands demonstrate in Nepal seeking restoration of ousted monarchy

Tens of thousands demonstrate in Nepal seeking restoration of ousted monarchy
Updated 30 May 2025

Tens of thousands demonstrate in Nepal seeking restoration of ousted monarchy

Tens of thousands demonstrate in Nepal seeking restoration of ousted monarchy

KATMANDU, Nepal: Tens of thousands of protesters demanding the abolished monarchy be restored and the former king be made the head of state of the Himalayan nation demonstrated in Nepal Thursday.
The protesters, waving flags and chanting slogans, demanded the return of the king and the restoration of Hinduism as a state religion as they marched through the main circle in the capital, Katmandu.
Just a few hundred meters (yards) from the pro-monarchy protesters, their opponents, who are supporters of the Prime Minister Khadga Prasad Oli, had gathered at the exhibition grounds to celebrate Republic Day.
There was fear that these two groups could likely clash and create trouble in the city. Hundreds of riot police kept the two groups apart and authorities had given them permission on different times to carry out their rallies.
Nepal abolished the monarchy and turned the nation into a republic in 2008, bringing in a president as the head of the state.
“Bring king back to the throne and save the country. We love our king more than our lives,” the estimated 20,000 protesters chanted with a few playing traditional drums and musical instruments.
“We are going to continue our protests until the centuries-old monarchy is brought back and the country turned in to a Hindu stage for the interest of the country,” said Dil Nath Giri, a supporter of the former king at the rally.
The pro-monarchy supporters had announced they were restarting their protests from Thursday.
In their last protest on March 28, two people including a television cameraman, were killed when protesters attacked buildings and set them on fire while police fired bullets and tear gas on the protesters. Several protesters arrested on that day are still in jail.
There has been growing demand in recent months for Gyanendra Shah to be reinstated as king and Hinduism to be brought back as a state religion. Royalist groups accuse the country’s major political parties of corruption and failed governance and say people are frustrated with politicians.
Massive street protests in 2006 forced Gyanendra to give up his authoritarian rule, and two years later the parliament voted to abolish the monarchy.
Gyanendra, who left the Royal Palace to live as commoner, has not commented on the calls for the return of monarchy. Despite growing support, the former king has little chance of immediately returning to power.


US probes effort to impersonate White House Chief of Staff, WSJ reports

US probes effort to impersonate White House Chief of Staff, WSJ reports
Updated 30 May 2025

US probes effort to impersonate White House Chief of Staff, WSJ reports

US probes effort to impersonate White House Chief of Staff, WSJ reports

US federal authorities are investigating an effort to impersonate White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday, citing people familiar with the matter.
The report said Wiles had told associates that some of her cellphone contacts had been hacked, allowing the impersonator to access private phone numbers.
The incident affected her personal phone, not her government phone, the report said.
The Journal reported that in recent weeks, senators, governors, top US business executives and other figures received messages and calls from a person who claimed to be Wiles, citing the people familiar with the messages.
The White House and FBI did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The White House has struggled with information security. A hacker who breached the communications service used by former Trump national security adviser Mike Waltz earlier this month intercepted messages from a broad swathe of American officials, Reuters reported recently.
And late last year, a White House official said the US believed that an alleged sweeping Chinese cyber espionage campaign known as Salt Typhoon targeted and recorded telephone calls of “very senior” American political figures.
As Wiles is a key Trump lieutenant and a lynchpin of the White House’s operation, the content of her personal phone would be of extraordinary interest to a range of foreign intelligence agencies and other hostile actors.
Wiles has reportedly been targeted by hackers at least once before, in the final months of Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign. At the time, hackers alleged by US authorities to be acting on behalf of Iran approached journalists and a political operative with a variety of messages sent to and from Wiles, some of which were eventually published.