Russia and Ukraine complete prisoner swap hours after Moscow launches major aerial assault

Russia and Ukraine exchange prisoners amid ongoing conflict, as Ukraine faces massive Russian drone and missile attacks.

Russia and Ukraine swapped hundreds more prisoners Sunday (May 25, 2025) in the third and last part of a major exchange that was a rare moment of cooperation in otherwise failed efforts to reach a ceasefire in the more than three years of war.

Hours earlier, the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, and other regions came under a massive Russian drone-and-missile attack that killed at least 12 people and injured dozens. Ukrainian officials described it as the largest aerial assault since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Late Sunday (May 25, 2025), Ukrainian cities came under attack for a third straight night with Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko reporting that air defence forces were working in the capital against enemy drones. Oleh Syniehubov, the head of the Kharkiv military administration, said Kharkiv and its suburbs were also under attack by drones.

Information about victims was being clarified, Mr Syniehubov said, urging residents to “stay safe places until the end of the alarm.”

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Earlier, Russia’s Defence Ministry said each side exchanged 303 soldiers, following the release of 307 combatants and civilians each on Saturday (May 24, 2025), and 390 on Friday (May 23, 2025) — the biggest total swap of the war.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy confirmed Sunday’s (May 25, 2025) exchange, saying on X that “303 Ukrainian defenders are home.” He noted that the troops returning to Ukraine were members of the “Armed Forces, the National Guard, the State Border Guard Service, and the State Special Transport Service.”