Kyiv is gearing up on May 25 for the third day of a mass prisoner exchange with Moscow following scenes of raw emotion as Ukrainian prisoners returned from incarceration in Russia, draped in the national flag to tears of joy from loved ones.
Kyiv said it was prepared to hand over all captured Russian in return for all Ukrainians being held by Moscow as the so-called 1,000-for-1,000 deal proceeds.
On May 24, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced that another 307 Ukrainians had returned home on May 24 following the May 23 initial release of prisoners, some of whom had been held since 2022.
“Just in these two days, 697 people have already been brought back,” Zelenskyy said on Telegram, referring to the deal brokered in Turkey.
“Of all these people, 273 were taken captive in the Donetsk region, many as far back as 2022; others were captured in the territories of Kherson, Zaporizhzhya, Kharkiv, and Luhansk regions,” he added.
“Tomorrow [May 25] is the third stage,” Zelenskyy said. “Our task is to bring home absolutely everyone who is held in Russia."
“Our goal is to return each and every one from Russian captivity. We continue our interaction with partners to make this possible.”
Petro Yatsenko of Ukraine’s Center for the Treatment of Prisoners of War was quoted by Suspilne Media as saying Kyiv is “always” ready to release all captured Russians and bring home all Ukrainians held by Moscow.
“All the [released prisoners] are feeling optimistic. Very emaciated, very underfed, but it's all a matter of time…After two to three years in Russian captivity, it will be a difficult process to return to normal life,” Yatsenko said.
On the ground, Olena Yuzvak hugged her husband, Yuriy, as he returned from captivity, saying, "It's the best day."
She said she had been waiting for him for three days.
"I couldn't believe it [was happening] until we reached the border," Oleksandr, a returning soldier, told RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service.
"You're in the plane, then they drive you different ways. But you just can't believe it."
In Moscow, the Defense Ministry reported on May 24 that 307 prisoners had been returned to Russia. The soldiers were currently in Belarus receiving medical attention, it added.
But while families in Ukraine welcomed their loved ones home, the country was simultaneously reeling from a massive overnight Russian air assault on Kyiv.
It was one of the heaviest attacks on the capital since the start of the war. The authorities also reported deadly missile strikes on the port city of Odesa and on Kupyansk in northeastern Ukraine.
Video by an RFE/RL team showed emergency teams using flashlights as they searched smoking rubble-strewn buildings for casualties in Kyiv early on May 24.
"These are not the actions of a country seeking peace," British Foreign Secretary David Lammy wrote on social media.
It was "another night of terror for Ukrainian civilians, with yet more injured and more homes destroyed," he said.
"[It hit] above us, on the roof and the balcony. The balcony is completely gone," a middle-aged man, who gave his name as Serhiy, told RFE/RL.
"I saw the explosion [right here]," said another witness called Vadym.
"I had my curtains partially drawn," he added, saying that this had saved him from flying glass.
Officials said 15 people had been injured in the biggest Russian aerial assault on Kyiv.
Victims included a 43-year-old woman hospitalized with a penetrating wound to her thigh, a 54-year-old man who had surgery after a shrapnel injury, and others, officials said.
The attacks came hours after the two sides exchanged hundreds of prisoners in the first phase of a prisoner swap, a process which resumed on May 24.
Zelenskyy said the prisoner swap was “perhaps the only real result” of a 90-minute meeting between Ukrainian and Russian negotiators in Istanbul on May 16 -- the first direct peace talks between Ukrainian and Russian officials since shortly after Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
The May 23 exchange took place at Ukraine's border with Belarus, a Russian ally that has supported the invasion without sending its own troops to fight in the war.
As Day 2 of the swap went ahead, Zelenskyy underlined the dissonance between it and the drone and missile strikes.
“With each such attack, the world becomes more convinced that the reason the war is dragging on lies in Moscow,” he said.
“Ukraine has offered cease-fires many times -- both full and limited to the skies,” he added.
“All of this has been ignored. It’s clear that much more pressure must be put on Russia to get results and start genuine diplomacy.”
Zelenskyy also emphasized that Ukraine was “waiting for sanctions from the United States, Europe, and all our partners.”
The Ukrainian Air Force said 14 Iskander-M/KN-23 ballistic missiles, as well as about 250 Shahed attack drones and various types of drone decoys were used in the overnight attack on May 24, with the country's capital being the primary target.
"The alert lasted 8 hours. Air defense forces worked effectively in the region. Enemy targets have been shot down," said the Kyiv regional military administration.
The Ukrainian air force said its defenses had shot down six ballistic missiles aimed at Kyiv and that 245 enemy drones had been destroyed.
In Moscow, the Defense Ministry stated that Russia had shot down 94 Ukrainian drones in various regions.
Battlefield claims by the warring parties could not be independently verified.
The Kremlin denies that the Russian military is carrying out targeted attacks on civilian infrastructure, killing civilians and destroying hospitals, schools, and energy facilities, despite ample evidence of such attacks.
