[🇺🇦] Monitoring Russian and Ukraine War.

[Saif]

Russia accuses Ukraine of ‘postponing’ POW swap

Russia on Saturday accused Ukraine of postponing a large-scale prisoner swap and the repatriation of the bodies of dead soldiers they had agreed on during peace talks in Istanbul...

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Russia accuses Ukraine of ‘postponing’ POW swap
Agence France-Presse . Moscow, Russia 07 June, 2025, 19:15

A firefighter extinguishes a fire at a civilian plant following Russian powerful attacks on the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv early on June 7, 2025, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. | AFP photo

Russia on Saturday accused Ukraine of postponing a large-scale prisoner swap and the repatriation of the bodies of dead soldiers they had agreed on during peace talks in Istanbul.

‘The Ukrainian side has unexpectedly postponed for an indefinite period, both the acceptance of the bodies and the exchange of prisoners of war,’ Russia’s top negotiator Vladimir Medinsky said on social media.

Delegations from Moscow and Kyiv agreed on Monday to swap all wounded soldiers and those under the age of 25 who were still held as POWs.

It was the only concrete outcome from the talks, at which Russia has repeatedly rejected Ukrainian calls for an immediate ceasefire.

Medinsky said Russia had brought the bodies of 1,212 killed Ukrainian soldiers to the ‘exchange area’ -- the first of 6,000 to be handed over.

Moscow had also handed over a list to Kyiv with the names of 640 POWs to be swapped in the first stage.

More than 1,000 prisoners from each side are set to be released in the largest exchange of the three-year conflict.

‘We urge Kyiv to strictly adhere to the timetable and all agreements reached, and begin the exchange immediately,’ Medinsky said.

Kyiv did not immediately respond to the accusation.

After the Istanbul talks, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the exchange would take place this weekend, while Russia said it was ready for Saturday, Sunday or Monday.​

 

[Saif]

Russia shoots down 131 Ukrainian drones in 24 hours

Russian air defenses shot down 131 Ukrainian drones in the last 24 hours, including 73 devices outside the air defense zone, the Defense Ministry said on Sunday. The ministry further said that the drones were destroyed over the Tula, Bryansk, Kaluga, Oryol, Belgorod, Kursk, and Moscow regions as w

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Russia shoots down 131 Ukrainian drones in 24 hours

Xinhua
Published :
Jun 08, 2025 19:19
Updated :
Jun 08, 2025 19:19

Russian air defenses shot down 131 Ukrainian drones in the last 24 hours, including 73 devices outside the air defense zone, the Defense Ministry said on Sunday.

The ministry further said that the drones were destroyed over the Tula, Bryansk, Kaluga, Oryol, Belgorod, Kursk, and Moscow regions as well as Crimea.​

 

[Saif]

Russia fired record 479 drones at Ukraine overnight

Moscow fired a record 479 drones at Ukraine, including on the western region of Rivne that has been largely spared from attacks, Kyiv said on Monday, also claiming an attack on a Russian factory hundreds of miles east of Moscow...

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Russia fired record 479 drones at Ukraine overnight
Agence France-Presse . Kyiv, Ukraine 09 June, 2025, 18:33

Police experts work on a crater at a children’s railway near the central park of Kharkiv following an aerial attack, in Kharkiv on June 7, 2025, amid the Russian invasion in Ukraine. | AFP photo.

Moscow fired a record 479 drones at Ukraine, including on the western region of Rivne that has been largely spared from attacks, Kyiv said on Monday, also claiming an attack on a Russian factory hundreds of miles east of Moscow.

Russia has escalated its attacks across Ukraine in recent weeks, which Kyiv says demonstrate that the Kremlin has no intention of stopping its more than three-year invasion and is not serious about peace talks.

Moscow said Monday its strikes are continued retaliation for a bold Ukrainian attack on its bomber planes parked deep inside Russia, including in Siberia, that infuriated the Kremlin.

The overnight Russian attacks caused damage in several Ukrainian regions. There were no reports of people killed or mass casualties.

‘Enemy air strikes were recorded in 10 spots,’ the Ukrainian air force said.

The mayor of the western city of Rivne, Oleksandr Tretyak, called it ‘the largest attack’ on the region since the start of the war.

Regional governor Oleksandr Koval said 70 buildings -- including private houses and a nursery -- were damaged in the attack.

Russia said it had targeted an airfield near the village of Dubno in the Rivne region.

‘This is one of the retaliatory strikes against terrorist attacks by the Kyiv regime on Russian military airfields,’ its defence ministry said.

Russia had vowed revenge last week and had already called strikes on Kyiv retaliation to the brazen Ukrainian operation.

Ukraine also said it had launched its own overnight strike on an electronics factory that makes part for Russian drones, in the city of Cheboskary in Chuvashia -- some 600 kilometres (372 miles) east of Moscow.

Russian officials said the facility had to temporarily suspend production after the attack.

‘This morning, Ukrainian attempts to use drones in Chuvashia were detected,’ Chuvashia Governor Oleg Nikolayev said on Telegram, adding: ’Two drones fell on the territory of the VNIIR factory.’

Ukraine’s army said the factory manufactured ‘antennas for Shahed’ (drones). Russia fires dozens of Iranian-designed Shahed attack drones at Ukrainian cities on a daily basis.

Russia said a Ukrainian strike killed one person in its border Kursk region Monday.

The acting governor of the region, Alexander Khinstein, said the strike hit a ‘cultural-service centre’ in the Rylsky district, killing a 64-year-old man.​

 

[Saif]

Russian strikes in Kyiv, Odesa kill three

Russia launched fresh drone and missile attacks on the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, and port city of Odesa early on Tuesday, killing three people and hitting a maternity hospital, Ukrainian officials said...

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Russian strikes in Kyiv, Odesa kill three
Agence France-Presse . Kyiv 10 June, 2025, 23:53

Russia launched fresh drone and missile attacks on the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, and port city of Odesa early on Tuesday, killing three people and hitting a maternity hospital, Ukrainian officials said.

Moscow has escalated its bombardments of Ukraine and Kyiv has retaliated with strikes deep inside Russian territory.

Talks in Turkey last week failed to yield a breakthrough towards ending the three-year war.

Aside from an agreement to exchange prisoners, progress has stalled and Russia has repeatedly rejected calls for an unconditional ceasefire.

After the overnight barrage of more than 300 drones and seven missiles, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky urged Kyiv’s Western allies to respond with ‘concrete action’.

‘Action from America, which has the power to force Russia into peace. Action from Europe, which has no alternative but to be strong,’ Zelensky wrote in a post on social media.

He added that two of the missiles fired in the latest wave attacks were made in North Korea.

Russia’s defence ministry said it had targeted ‘Ukrainian aviation, missile, armoured vehicle and ship-building facilities in Kyiv’ with a ‘group strike’.

‘The goal of the strikes was achieved. All designated objects were hit,’ the ministry said.

But residential and hospital buildings were struck in Odesa, where two people were killed and at least nine others were wounded, Governor Oleg Kiper said.

‘The enemy massively attacked Odesa with strike drones,’ Kiper wrote on Telegram.

‘The Russians hit a maternity hospital, an emergency medical ward and residential buildings,’ he said, adding that the maternity hospital had been evacuated in time.

In central Kyiv, an AFP journalist heard at least a dozen explosions, anti-aircraft fire and the buzzing of drones.

City officials said one woman was killed and four people were wounded.

The mayor said strikes hit at least seven districts, setting buildings and cars on fire.

Russia’s 2022 invasion of its neighbour triggered the biggest European conflict since World War II, forcing millions to flee their homes and decimating much of eastern and southern Ukraine.

Ukrainian cities are targeted by Russian air strikes almost daily.

Russia launched a record 479 explosive drones at Ukraine overnight into Monday morning, the Ukrainian Air Force said.

Kyiv has responded with attacks on Russian territory, targeting transport and weapons production infrastructure.

Russia’s transport agency Rosaviatsia said on Tuesday that flight operations had been temporarily restricted at more than a dozen Russian airports—standard procedure during Ukrainian drone attacks.

In the city of Belgorod near the border with Ukraine, Russian emergency services said one person was killed in a Ukrainian drone attack on a petrol station.

Russia’s defence ministry said it had intercepted 102 Ukrainian drones overnight.

Despite pressure from US president Donald Trump to reach a ceasefire agreement, peace talks are at a standstill.

The only concrete agreement reached at talks in Istanbul last week was a large-scale prisoner exchange and the repatriation of dead soldiers’ bodies.

Russia and Ukraine swapped a first group of captured soldiers on Monday and Zelensky announced the exchange would ‘continue in several stages over the coming days’.

The deal should see the freeing of all captured soldiers under the age of 25, as well as those who are sick or severely wounded.

But Zelensky said last week it was ‘pointless’ to hold further talks with the current Russian delegation—who he previously dismissed as ‘empty heads’—since they could not agree to a ceasefire.

Russian forces meanwhile are making steady advances across the front line.

Over the weekend Moscow said it had pushed its offensive into the Dnipropetrovsk region for the first time, marking a significant territorial escalation.

‘Time for everyone to finally accept the fact that Russia understands only strikes, not rational words,’ Zelensky’s top aide, Andriy Yermak, said on Tuesday, in a thinly veiled criticism of the Trump administration.

As a condition for halting its invasion, Russia has demanded that Ukraine cede the territories Moscow says it has annexed and forswear joining NATO.

It has also rejected a proposed 30-day unconditional ceasefire sought by Kyiv and the European Union, arguing that this would allow Ukrainian forces to rearm with Western deliveries.

Ukraine is demanding a complete Russian withdrawal of from its territory and security guarantees from the West.​

 

[Saif]

Russia launches deadly strike in east Ukraine

Fresh Russian strikes on Ukraine’s northeastern city of Kharkiv killed three people and wounded 60 others, including children, on Wednesday, authorities said, as Moscow pushed ahead with attacks after rejecting an unconditional ceasefire...

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Russia launches deadly strike in east Ukraine
Agence France-Presse . Kharkiv, Ukraine 12 June, 2025, 01:06

Fresh Russian strikes on Ukraine’s northeastern city of Kharkiv killed three people and wounded 60 others, including children, on Wednesday, authorities said, as Moscow pushed ahead with attacks after rejecting an unconditional ceasefire.

Ukraine said it had received the bodies of more than 1,200 soldiers, handed over by Moscow, part of a repatriation deal the two sides agreed at talks last week.

Russia has fired record numbers of drones and missiles at Ukraine over recent weeks, escalating three years of daily bombardments as it outlines hardline demands — rejected by Kyiv as ‘ultimatums’ — to halt its three-year invasion.

The northeastern city of Kharkiv, just 30 kilometres from the Russian border, again bore the brunt of the attack.

‘Seventeen strikes by enemy UAVs (drones) were carried out in two districts of the city tonight,’ Kharkiv mayor Igor Terekhov said on Telegram.

Kharkiv regional governor Oleg Synegubov said three people had been killed.

‘Every new day now brings new cowardly strikes from Russia, and almost every strike is demonstrative. Russia deserves increased pressure,’ Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky said on social media after the shelling of Kharkiv.

AFP journalists in the city saw damaged apartment blocks, burnt out cars and streets strewn with debris after the attacks.

Olena Khoruzheva had run into a hallway — away from the windows — with her two children when she heard the incoming drones.

‘The younger one lay on the floor, hands on his head. I was on top of him,’ the 41-year-old pharmacist said.

‘We heard it approaching, silence, and then we were thrown against the wall there were more explosions, then we heard people shouting ‘Help! Help!’

Her 65-year-old neighbour was one of those killed in the attack.

Early on Wednesday morning, an AFP reporter saw first responders removing the body of one killed resident from a block of apartments in a black body bag.

Ukraine’s air force said that Russia had fired 85 drones overnight — fewer than in recent days.

On the front line, Moscow’s troops have been advancing steadily.

The Russian defence ministry said on Wednesday that more units had crossed into the Dnipropetrovsk region, where it is mounting an offensive for the first time in its 40-month-long invasion.

US president Donald Trump has been urging the two sides to strike a peace deal, but has seen little progress.

Zelensky has in turn called on the West to increase the pressure on Russia with hard-hitting economic sanctions that he says would limit its capacity to wage war.

He is expected to press that message with Trump and European leaders at a G7 summit in Canada, which kicks off on Sunday.

Leaders from several countries across southeastern Europe were expected in the Ukrainian port city of Odesa on Wednesday, hours after it was targeted by Russian strikes.

Two rounds of peace talks between Russia and Ukraine have failed to yield a breakthrough in ending the war.

Russia has rejected calls for an unconditional ceasefire and demanded that Ukraine give up large swathes of territory and its bid to join NATO.

But the two sides agreed to swap more than 1,000 prisoners of war and hand over the bodies of dead soldiers.

Ukraine said on Wednesday that Russia had handed over the corpses of 1,212 killed soldiers and was working to identify them.

Russia’s top negotiator, Vladimir Medinsky, confirmed the handover and said Russia had received ‘the remains of 27 Russian soldiers.’

Ukraine did not say how many bodies it returned to Russia, which says Western estimates of the number of its deaths are untrue.

Moscow spent days accusing Kyiv of not wanting to collect the bodies, after it said that they had been delivered to the border in refrigerated trucks on Saturday.

The two countries swapped groups of captured soldiers on Monday and Tuesday, though neither said how many were freed.

Fresh exchange of ‘severely wounded’ was set for Thursday, Medinsky has said.

After Russia’s attacks, Kyiv has hit back with retaliatory drone strikes.

Moscow’s defence ministry said that 32 Ukrainian drones were intercepted overnight.

Both sides have downplayed any chance of progress at talks in Istanbul.

While not rejecting diplomacy, Zelensky called it ‘pointless’ to hold further talks with the current Russian delegation — whom he previously dismissed as ‘empty heads’ — since they could not agree to a ceasefire.

Russian president Vladimir Putin last week called Kyiv a ‘terrorist’ regime and questioned why he should negotiate with them.​

 

[Saif]

Ukraine, Russia exchange new group of POWs

Ukraine and Russia said on Thursday they had swapped a fresh group of prisoners of war, the third exchange this week as part of a deal agreed at peace talks in Turkey...

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Ukraine, Russia exchange new group of POWs
Agence France-Presse . Ukraine 13 June, 2025, 00:01

Ukraine and Russia said on Thursday they had swapped a fresh group of prisoners of war, the third exchange this week as part of a deal agreed at peace talks in Turkey.

In Istanbul last week the two sides agreed to each free more than 1,000 prisoners of war — all wounded or under the age of 25 — and return the bodies of killed fighters.

‘Today, warriors of our Armed Forces, National Guard, and Border Guard Service are back home,’ Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky said on social media.

‘They all require medical treatment,’ as they were ‘severely wounded and seriously ill,’ he added.

Russia’s defence ministry also confirmed the swap, saying in a Telegram post that ‘a group of Russian servicemen was returned’ from Ukraine.

The swapped Russian soldiers were now in Belarus, Moscow’s close ally.

‘We continue working to bring everyone home from Russian captivity. We thank everyone who helps make these exchanges possible — so that each and every one of them can be home, in Ukraine,’ Zelensky said.

He published pictures of the Ukrainian servicemen, all with freshly shaved heads — draped in national flags.

The oldest Ukrainian soldier freed on Thursday was 59, with the youngest 22, and they include some who were believed to be ‘missing in action,’ Ukrainian ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets said.

Russian state media showed Moscow’s troops in camouflage chanting ‘Russia, Russia’ with national flags around their shoulders.

The exchanges are the only concrete outcome from two rounds of peace talks in Istanbul, at which Russia rejected calls for an unconditional ceasefire and demanded Ukraine give up large swathes of territory and its bid to join NATO.

The first stages of the swap took place on Monday and Tuesday, with Russia on Wednesday handing back the bodies of 1,212 Ukrainian soldiers killed fighting Moscow’s invasion.

Meanwhile, Russian night-time strikes on Kharkiv wounded 14 people, including four children, Ukraine said, in the latest heavy bombardment of the northeastern city.

The strikes came a day after Russian attacks killed three people and wounded some 60 others in the city, some 30 kilometres from the Russian border.

Kharkiv has been heavily hit by Russian forces throughout their more than three-year invasion.​

 

[Saif]

Russia and Ukraine exchange prisoners of war, but Moscow received no war dead, Russia says

Russia and Ukraine exchanged prisoners-of-war (POWs) on Saturday, the Russian defence ministry said, and Russia handed over the bodies of 1,200 dead Ukrainian soldiers to Kyiv. The exchanges are part of agreements reached by the warring sides during talks in Istanbul earlier this month. Ukraine ea

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Russia and Ukraine exchange prisoners of war, but Moscow received no war dead, Russia says

REUTERS
Published :
Jun 14, 2025 18:51
Updated :
Jun 14, 2025 18:51

People in hazmat suits carry what is said to be remains of Ukrainian soldiers received from Russia in an unknown location in a screen grab from a Handout video released on June 13, 2025. Photo : Security Service Of Ukraine/Handout via REUTERS/Files

Russia and Ukraine exchanged prisoners-of-war (POWs) on Saturday, the Russian defence ministry said, and Russia handed over the bodies of 1,200 dead Ukrainian soldiers to Kyiv.

The exchanges are part of agreements reached by the warring sides during talks in Istanbul earlier this month. Ukraine earlier on Saturday confirmed it had received the bodies of its soldiers killed in action.

However, Russian state media reported, citing sources, that Moscow had not received any of its war dead back from Kyiv, echoing a statement Russia made on Friday, when it said it had returned the bodies of 1,200 slain Ukrainian soldiers and received none of its own.

The Russian defence ministry did not say how many POWs were involved in the swap with Ukraine on Saturday, but it posted video showing its soldiers holding Russian flags and cheering before boarding a bus.

The Russian soldiers are in Belarus, where they are receiving medical treatment before transfer back to Russia, the defence ministry said.​

 

[Saif]

Ukraine hopes Israel-Iran crisis won’t decrease military aid

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky said he hoped the escalation between Israel and Iran would not result in a drop in military aid to Kyiv, according to remarks published on Saturday.

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Ukraine hopes Israel-Iran crisis won’t decrease military aid
Agence France-Presse . Kyiv, Ukraine 14 June, 2025, 22:33

This handout photograph taken and released by the Ukrainian Presidential Press Service on Saturday shows Ukrainian prisoners of war wrapped with Ukrainian national flags hugging after an exchange of prisoners at an undisclosed location in Ukraine, amid the Russian invasion in Ukraine. | AFP photo

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky said he hoped the escalation between Israel and Iran would not result in a drop in military aid to Kyiv, according to remarks published on Saturday.

‘We would like to see aid to Ukraine not decrease because of this,’ he said. ‘Last time, this was a factor that slowed down aid to Ukraine.’

Israel unleashed large-scale attacks on Iran Friday, targeting nuclear and military facilities as well as high-ranking generals and atomic scientists, sparking international calls to restraint as fears of broader conflict grow.

The attack on Iran sparked a rise in oil prices, which Zelensky said would benefit Russia.

‘The attacks led to a sharp rise in oil prices. This is bad for us,’ he added, reiterating a call to introduce price caps on Russian oil exports.

He added that hoped to raise the issue of price caps at a potential meeting with the US president Donald Trump in the near future.

However, the Israeli strikes might be favourable for Kyiv as well, if they lead to a reduction of military equipment supplies from Tehran to Moscow, which has relied heavily on Iranian-made attack drones.

The Ukrainian leader also warned that Europe’s support was stalling without Washington’s engagement, as ‘Europe has not yet decided for itself what it will do with Ukraine if America is not there’.

He also urged the United States to ‘shift tone’ in its dialogue with Russia, warning that it was ‘too warm’ now and that this would not help to end the war.

Meanwhile, Ukraine and Russia conducted another POW swap — the fourth one in a week — the warring sides said on Saturday, under agreements reached in Istanbul earlier this month.

‘We continue to take our people out of Russian captivity. This is the fourth exchange in a week,’ Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky wrote on social media.

‘In accordance with the Russian-Ukrainian agreements another group of Russian servicemen was returned from the territory controlled by the Kyiv regime,’ Russia’s defence ministry said on Telegram.

Kyiv also said it had received another batch of 1,200 unidentified bodies from Russia, which it said Russia claimed ‘belong to Ukrainian citizens, including military personnel,’ as part of the Istanbul agreements as well.

Ukraine did not say whether it returned any bodies to Russia.

Photos published by Zelensky on Telegram showed men of various ages, mostly with shaved heads, wearing camouflage and draped in Ukrainian flags.

Some were injured, others disembarked from buses and hugged those welcoming them, or were seen calling someone by phone, sometimes covering their faces or smiling.

Moscow’s defence ministry released its own video showing men in uniforms holding Russian flags, clapping and chanting ‘Russia, Russia’, ‘glory to Russia’ and ‘hooray’, some raising their fists in the air.

The exchange came as Russia repeatedly rejected ceasefire calls and intensified its offensive along the front line, and especially in the northeastern Sumy region, where it seeks to establish a ‘buffer zone’ to protect its Kursk region, previously partly occupied by Ukraine.

Zelensky claimed Russia’s advance on Sumy was stopped, adding that Kyiv’s forces have managed to retake one village.

According to the Ukrainian president, Russia was using 53,000 men in the Sumy operation.​