Russia, devastating attack on Ukraine: Zelensky’s anger and promise, the news

In a residential area on the eastern bank of the city, rescuers continue to work in and around the rubble, where 11 people have already been rescued. According to the State Emergency Service, 17 people are still missing.

Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said following the attack that he had given instructions to start a UN Security Council meeting “to respond to killings of Ukrainian civilians and attacks on humanitarian personnel by Russia”. “Such a scale of Russian terrorism requires a strong international response and I call on all states to respond,” Sybiha said in a post on X.

The toll of the raids and the day of mourning

Meanwhile, the operations to search for survivors in Kiev following the long wave of raids have concluded after 28 hours, announced the Interior Minister, Ihor Klymenko. The death toll in the capital is 24 dead, including three girls aged 12, 15 and 17, and 48 injured. An entire apartment building was destroyed. Kiev authorities have proclaimed a day of mourning.

After the end of the three-day ceasefire, Moscow launched nearly 1,600 drones and missiles against Ukraine for 30 hours. Kiev, as well as the region surrounding it, has been hit with missiles and drones. The raids also damaged port infrastructure in the Odessa region (two people were injured), energy in Khmelnytskyi and Chernihiv and residential neighborhoods in Kharkiv, where 28 people were injured.

Moscow: “355 Kiev drones shot down during the night”

For its part, Moscow says that 355 Ukrainian drones were shot down over several Russian regions overnight. “Air defense systems intercepted and destroyed 355 Ukrainian drones,” says a statement from the Russian Defense Ministry, adding that the targets were – among other things – the regions of Moscow, Belgorod, Bryansk and Kursk.

Exchange of prisoners

Meanwhile, Russia and Ukraine today exchanged 205 prisoners of war on each side. Both Moscow and Kiev made this known, after American President Donald Trump announced an agreement for a new exchange a week ago. In a social media message, the Ukrainian president wrote that 205 servicemen, “most of whom had been detained since 2022,” had returned to Ukraine. Minutes earlier, the Russian army had indicated that 205 of its servicemen had been repatriated from territories controlled by Kiev.

The previous prisoner exchange, involving 193 people from each side, took place on April 24. Last Friday, Donald Trump announced a three-day truce in the conflict between Kiev and Moscow, from Saturday to Monday, and an exchange of 1,000 prisoners on each side. Zelensky confirmed that today’s exchange constitutes “the first phase” of Trump’s announcement. The last exchange in the “1,000 for 1,000” format was in May 2025. It included military and civilians and was decided at the end of a round of negotiations headed to Istanbul. It was one of the few tangible results of these talks, besides the exchange of the bodies of the killed soldiers.