Kyiv comes below large-scale Russian drone and missile assault with explosions heard all through metropolis

[ad_1] KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine’s capital got here below a large-scale Russian drone and missile assault early Saturday with explosions and machine gun hearth heard all through town, forcing many Kyiv residents to take shelter in underground subway stations.

Emergency employees navigates his colleagues on the web site of residential constructing broken after a Russian assault in Kyiv, Ukraine, Saturday, Could 24, 2025. (AP Photograph/Alex Babenko)

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The nighttime Russian assault got here hours after Russia and Ukraine started a serious prisoner alternate, swapping hundreds of soldiers and civilians within the first section of an alternate that was agreed on by the 2 sides at a gathering in Istanbul final week. The settlement was a moment of cooperation in in any other case failed efforts to succeed in a ceasefire within the 3-year-old war .

The particles of intercepted missiles and drones fell in no less than 4 metropolis districts of the Ukrainian capital early Saturday, appearing head of Kyiv navy administration, Tymur Tkachenko, wrote on Telegram. In response to Tkachenko, six individuals required medical care after the assault and two fires had been sparked within the Solomianskyi district of Kyiv.

A lady carries her canine as she walks on a road with items of damaged glass on the web site of a residential constructing that was broken after a Russian assault in Kyiv, Ukraine, Saturday, Could 24, 2025. (AP Photograph/Alex Babenko)

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Previous to the assault, metropolis mayor Vitalii Klitschko warned Kyiv residents of greater than 20 Russian strike drones heading in direction of Kyiv. Because the assault continued, he mentioned drone particles fell on a shopping center and a residential constructing in Obolon district of Kyiv. Emergency providers had been headed to the location, Klitschko mentioned.

The prisoner swap Friday was the primary section of an advanced deal involving the alternate of 1,000 prisoners from both sides.

Folks take shelter at Kontraktova Ploshcha subway station throughout a Russian drone and missile assault in Kyiv, Ukraine, Saturday, Could 24, 2025. (AP Photograph/Illia Novikov)

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President Volodymyr Zelenskyy mentioned the primary section introduced dwelling 390 Ukrainians, with additional releases anticipated over the weekend that may make it the most important swap of the battle. Russia’s Protection Ministry mentioned it obtained the identical quantity from Ukraine.

The swap passed off on the border with Belarus in northern Ukraine, in accordance with a Ukrainian official who spoke on situation of anonymity as a result of he was not licensed to talk publicly.

The launched Russians had been taken to Belarus for medical therapy, the Russian Protection Ministry mentioned.

Because the freed males entered the medical facility Friday, individuals holding indicators and images of their family shouted names or brigade numbers, searching for any information of a beloved one.

“Vanya!” cried Nataliia Mosych, among the many gathered family, “My husband!”

The alternate, the most recent of dozens of swaps because the battle started and the most important involving Ukrainian civilians at one time, didn’t herald any halt in preventing.

A firefighter works on the location of a residential constructing broken after a Russian assault in Kyiv, Ukraine, Saturday, Could 24, 2025. (AP Photograph/Alex Babenko)

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Battles continued alongside the roughly 1,000-kilometer (620-mile) entrance line, the place tens of 1000's of troopers have been killed, and neither nation has relented in its deep strikes.

After the Could 16 Istanbul assembly, Turkish International Minister Hakan Fidan referred to as the prisoner swap a “confidence-building measure” and mentioned the events had agreed in precept to fulfill once more.

However Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov mentioned Friday that there was no settlement but on the venue for the following spherical of talks to finish the preventing as diplomatic maneuvering continued.

Russian International Minister Sergey Lavrov mentioned Friday night time that Moscow would give Ukraine a draft doc outlining its circumstances for a “sustainable, long-term, complete” peace settlement as soon as the continued prisoner alternate had completed.

Firefighters extinguish a fireplace in a residential constructing broken after a Russian assault in Kyiv, Ukraine, Saturday, Could 24, 2025 (AP Photograph/Alex Babenko)

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European leaders have accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of dragging his ft in peace efforts whereas he tries to press his bigger military’s battlefield initiative and seize extra Ukrainian land.

The Istanbul assembly revealed that each side remained far aside on key circumstances for ending the preventing. One such situation for Ukraine, backed by its Western allies, is a short lived ceasefire as a primary step towards a peaceable settlement.

Russia’s Protection Ministry mentioned it had shot down 788 Ukrainian drones away from the battlefield between Could 20 and Could 23.

Ukraine’s air pressure mentioned Russia fired 175 Shahed and decoy drones, in addition to a ballistic missile since late Thursday.

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Comply with AP’s protection of the battle in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

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