Russia attacks Ukrainian capital with missiles and drones, hours after prisoner swap begins

Ukraine’s capital Kyiv came under a large-scale Russian drone and missile attack overnight into Saturday, just hours after Russia and Ukraine began a major prisoner exchange.

At least eight people were injured in the attacks, which triggered fires and left debris strewn in districts throughout the city, the city’s mayor Vitali Klitschko said in a post on Telegram.

Klitschko said two residents had required hospital treatment and that air defense units were in action, Reuters reported, adding that fragments from one drone struck the top floor of an apartment building.

Explosions and loud sirens could be heard blaring across the capital in video shared by Reuters news agency. Several fires could be seen against the nighttime skyline.

Timur Tkachenko, head of Kyiv’s military administration, said a fire had broken out on two floors of an apartment building in Dniprovskyi district, according to Reuters.

An explosion lights up the sky over Kyiv.

A resident looks at a fragment of a Russian drone, at a residential building that was damaged in the attack.

Officials also reported a fire in Obolon in the city’s northern suburbs and fallen debris on a shopping center in the same area, Reuters reported. They also said drone fragments hit the ground in a number of other widely separated neighborhoods.

The nighttime attack came after Russia and Ukraine completed the first phase of what is expected to be the biggest prisoner exchange since the start of the war.

The swap started on Friday and will continue on Saturday and Sunday, with Kyiv and Moscow expected to swap 2,000 people – 1,000 from each side.

The agreement to release 1,000 prisoners on each side was the only significant outcome of the meeting between Kyiv and Moscow in Istanbul last week, which marked the first time the two sides have met directly since soon after Russia’s full-scale unprovoked invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

The Istanbul meeting was initially proposed by Russian President Vladimir Putin in response to a ceasefire-or-sanctions ultimatum given to Moscow by Kyiv’s European allies – which many saw as a clear attempt by the Kremlin leader to distract and delay.

Residents look at a damaged apartment building.

Ukraine and its allies demanded that Russia agree to an immediate and unconditional ceasefire in Istanbul, but that did not happen.

Neither Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky nor Russian President Vladimir Putin attended the talks in Istanbul.

This is a developing story and will be updated.