Prisoner swap between Russia and Ukraine underneath approach

A prisoner change is underneath approach between Russia and Ukraine, governments in Moscow and Kyiv have confirmed.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky mentioned the change would unfold “in a number of levels” over the approaching days, including that the wounded, critically wounded and troopers underneath 25 have been being returned.

Writing on Telegram, Zelensky mentioned: “The method is sort of difficult, there are various delicate particulars, negotiations proceed nearly each day.”

Russia mentioned a “comparable quantity” of prisoners of warfare had been returned to Ukraine, although neither aspect supplied an actual determine for a way many individuals had been exchanged.

Russia’s defence ministry mentioned “the primary group of Russian servicemen underneath the age of 25 have been returned from the territory managed by the Kyiv regime” following an settlement reached between the warring international locations final week throughout talks in Turkey.

As with previous exchanges, Moscow mentioned the exchanged Russian troopers have been receiving psychological and medical help in Belarus.

On the Ukrainian aspect, family of prisoners of warfare and the lacking gathered within the Chernihiv area, near the border with Belarus, to greet the launched prisoners and, in lots of circumstances, search information of others nonetheless in captivity.

Final week, Moscow and Kyiv accused one another of disrupting the deliberate repatriation of the our bodies of lifeless troopers.

In late Might, Russia and Ukraine every handed over 390 troopers and civilians within the largest prisoner change since Russia launched the full-scale invasion in 2022.

In the meantime, warfare continued in a single day, with Moscow launching a file 479 drones at Ukraine, together with on the western area of Rivne that had been largely spared from assaults.

Russia’s defence ministry mentioned it had focused Rivne’s Dubno base and described this as “one of many retaliatory strikes” in response to Ukraine’s audacious drone assaults on Russian airfields on 1 June.

The in a single day Russian launches prompted injury in a number of Ukrainian areas however there have been no experiences of casualties.

Russia has just lately escalated its assaults on Ukraine, with every week bringing a brand new file of drones fired on the nation.

For its half, Kyiv mentioned it attacked one other Russian airbase within the Nizhny Novgorod area, which lies 400 miles from the Ukrainian border.

Ukraine mentioned the bottom homes planes that launch hypersonic missiles and that it had broken “two items of enemy plane”.

It additionally focused an electronics manufacturing unit that Kyiv says manufactures tools to information drones and aerial bombs.

Video reveals one of many explosions brought on by an assault drone, and a big hearth on the plant. Manufacturing there was suspended.