Moscow’s attacks target Kyiv and western parts of Ukraine – DW – May 25, 2025

The exchange, under which 1,000 POWs were to be freed by each side, was agreed at brief negotiations in Istanbul, Turkey, earlier this month.

The exchange involved both soldiers and civilians.

Hundreds more prisoners were swapped on Friday and Saturday.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has called on Western allies to impose more sanctions on Russia after a night in which he said Russian missiles and drones struck more than 30 cities and villages across his country.
 
Zelenskyy wrote on the platform X that Kyiv and the surrounding region, as well as the Zhytomyr, Khmelnytskyi, Ternopil, Chernihiv, Sumy, Odesa, Poltava, Dnipro, Mykolaiv, Kharkiv and Cherkasy regions had all suffered attacks.

“These were deliberate strikes on ordinary cities. Ordinary residential buildings were destroyed and damaged,” he said.

“Without truly strong pressure on the Russian leadership, this brutality cannot be stopped. Sanctions will certainly help,” Zelenskyy said.

“Determination matters now — the determination of the United States, of European countries, and of all those around the world who seek peace.”

His remarks come shortly after the EU agreed on a 17th package of sanctions largely targeting Russia’s “shadow fleet” of vessels that allow Moscow to circumvent already existing restrictions on its oil trade.

Ukraine‘s military said Sunday it had shot down 45 Russian missiles and 266 attack drones overnight as Moscow targeted its neighbor with deadly aerial strikes for a second night running. 

“Most regions of Ukraine were affected by the hostile attack. Enemy air strikes were recorded in 22 areas, and downed cruise missiles and attack UAVs (drones) fell in 15 locations,” the Ukrainian air force said on the Telegram messaging app.

The Russian Defense Ministry said on Sunday that its forces had intercepted 110 Ukrainian drones overnight, including 13 over the Moscow and Tver regions.

Russian attacks overnight to Saturday employed 14 ballistic missiles and 250 drones, Ukrainian officials said, with 15 people wounded in the attacks.

A Russian airstrike has killed three in the northwestern Ukrainian region of Zhytomyr, emergency services said on Sunday.

Those killed were children aged between 8 and 17, they said.

Ten other people were wounded in the attack, according to a Telegram statement.

The attack was one of several launched on a number of regions in Ukraine overnight, with officials saying 367 Russian missiles and drones had targeted the country in all.

The Zhytomyr  region borders on Belarus, which is a key ally of Russia.

A prisoner exchange between Ukraine and Russia that is expected to be the biggest in more than three years of war is set to continue on Sunday, officials said.

In negotiations held in Istanbul earlier this month, Kyiv and Moscow agreed to swap 1,000 prisoners of war and civilian detainees each.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Russia’s Defense Ministry said 307 soldiers were swapped on Saturday, after 390 soldiers and civilians were released on Friday.

“We expect more to come tomorrow,” Zelenskyy said on his official Telegram channel on Saturday, a comment echoed by Russia’s Defense Ministry.

No details have been so far given on the number of detainees likely to be exchanged on Sunday.

Thousands of POWs are being held in both countries after more than three years of conflict, though Russia is thought to have captured the most, with the number estimated to be as many as 10,000. 

Russian strikes have killed at least nine people across Ukraine overnight, Ukrainian officials said on Sunday.

In a post on the messaging app Telegram, emergency services wrote that four people had been killed and 16 injured in the Kyiv region, including three children, in what was described as a “massive night attack” with missiles and drones.

Four people were also reported to have been killed and five wounded in the Khmelnytskyi region of western Ukraine.

 “Last night, the Khmelnytskyi region came under hostile Russian fire, which resulted in the destruction of civilian infrastructure … Unfortunately, four people were killed,” Serhiy Tyurin, the deputy head of the regional military administration, said in a Telegram post.

Officials said another person died in an attack in the southern city of Mykolaiv.

This comes as Russian authorities reported that a dozen Ukrainian drones had been intercepted as they flew toward Moscow.

Restrictions were imposed on at least four airports in the Russian capital, including the main airport of Sheremetyevo, the Russian civilian aviation authority said.

So far, there have been no reports of casualties on the Russian side.

Russia is continuing with its massive aerial attacks on Ukraine even as the two countries carry out the biggest prisoner exchange since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022.

More soldiers and civilians held captive by both sides are expected to be swapped on Sunday in a third phase of a “1,000 for 1,000” deal reached during negotiations in Istanbul, Turkey, earlier this month.

Both countries are holding thousands of prisoners of war after more than three years of conflict.  

Read our coverage for news and analysis by our reporters and correspondents as Russia pushes on with its full-scale invasion of its neighbor.