Russia launched one of its most intense aerial assaults on Kyiv since the start of the war, firing 250 drones and 14 ballistic missiles at the Ukrainian capital overnight, injuring at least 14 people and setting off fires across the city, Ukrainian officials said Saturday. Ukraine's air force said it intercepted 245 drones and six missiles, but falling debris and direct hits caused widespread damage to homes, cars, and commercial buildings. The attack triggered multiple explosions throughout Kyiv, lighting up the night sky and prompting urgent calls for a ceasefire. "It was a difficult night," said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in a post on X. "With each such attack, the world becomes more certain that the cause of prolonging the war lies in Moscow." Describing the scale and precision of the strike, Kyiv military administrator Timur Tkachenko noted that Russian forces had increasingly refined their tactic of combining drone swarms with ballistic missile strikes to overwhelm defenses. The barrage coincided with a major prisoner exchange between Ukraine and Russia. On Saturday, Zelensky confirmed that 307 Ukrainian prisoners had returned home following negotiations held in Turkey. The exchange follows Friday's handover of 390 prisoners by each side — the largest such swap since February 2022. Another round is expected on Sunday, as both countries have agreed to exchange 1,000 individuals in total. U.S. President Donald Trump, who has pledged to end the war but so far failed to broker a deal, suggested on social media that the prisoner exchanges "could lead to something big???" Earlier in the week, Trump held a phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin and later said that negotiations between the Kremlin and Kyiv to end the war would "immediately start." However, Putin has only committed to working with Ukraine on a "memorandum on a possible future peace agreement," without addressing international calls for a 30-day ceasefire. Meanwhile, Zelensky reiterated that more pressure on Moscow was essential. "Only additional sanctions targeting key sectors of the Russian economy can bring the Kremlin to the negotiating table," he said. The attack follows a claim by Moscow last week that Ukraine had launched hundreds of explosive drones into Russian territory, including strikes on Moscow. Russia's defense ministry said it shot down 485 of those drones. — Agencies
