Ukraine POWs return home after a new exchange
Many were suffering from injuries and prolonged detention, according to Ukraine's Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War (KSHPPV). The exchange was confirmed by Russia's defense ministry, which released a video of Russian servicemen at an exchange area in Belarus after being released in the prisoner swap.
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Yahoo
6 hours ago
- Yahoo
Russia launches the biggest aerial attack since the start of the war, Ukraine says
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia launched its biggest aerial attack against Ukraine overnight, a Ukrainian official said Sunday, part of an escalating bombing campaign that has further dashed hopes for a breakthrough in efforts to end the 3-year-old war. Russia fired a total of 537 aerial weapons at Ukraine, including 477 drones and decoys and 60 missiles, Ukraine's air force said. Of these, 249 were shot down and 226 were lost, likely having been electronically jammed. The onslaught was 'the most massive airstrike' on the country since the beginning of Russia's full-scale invasion in February 2022, taking into account both drones and various types of missiles, Yuriy Ihnat, head of communications for Ukraine's air force, told The Associated Press. The attack targeted several regions, including western Ukraine, far from the front line. Poland and allied countries scrambled aircraft to ensure the safety of Polish airspace, the country's air force said. Three people were killed in each of the drone strikes in the Kherson, Kharkiv and the Dnipropetrovsk regions, according to the three governors. Another person was killed by an airstrike in Kostyantynivka, local officials said. In addition to aerial attacks, a man died when Russian troops shelled the city of Kherson, and the body of a 70-year-old woman was found under the rubble of a nine-story building hit by Russian shelling in the Zaporizhzhia region. In the far-western Lviv region, a large fire broke out at an industrial facility in the city of Drohobych following a drone attack that also cut electricity to parts of the city. Ukraine's air force said one of its F-16 warplanes supplied by its Western partners crashed after sustaining damage while shooting down air targets. The pilot died. Russia has recently been improving its drone technology as well as its tactics, striking Ukraine with increasing success. Russian troops reportedly advance in Donetsk Russia's Defense Ministry said it had shot down three Ukrainian drones overnight. Two people were wounded in another Ukrainian drone attack on the city of Bryansk in western Russia, regional Gov. Alexander Bogomaz said Sunday morning, adding that seven more Ukrainian drones had been shot down over the region. Meanwhile, Russia claimed Sunday that it had taken control of the village of Novoukrainka in the partially Russian-occupied Donetsk region. Russian forces have been slowly grinding forward at some points on the roughly 1,000-kilometer (620-mile) front line, though their incremental gains have been costly in terms of troop casualties and damaged armor. In other developments, Russia's foreign intelligence chief, Sergei Naryshkin, said he had spoken on the phone with his U.S. counterpart, CIA Director John Ratcliffe. 'I had a phone call with my American counterpart and we reserved for each other the possibility to call at any time and discuss issues of interest to us,' Naryshkin said in remarks to state TV reporter Pavel Zarubin, who posted them on his Telegram channel on Sunday. Sunday's attacks follow Russian President Vladimir Putin's comments two days ago that Moscow is ready for a fresh round of direct peace talks in Istanbul. Two recent rounds of talks between Russian and Ukrainian delegations in Istanbul were brief and yielded no progress on reaching a settlement. Zelenskyy withdraws Ukraine from an anti-land mine pact Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed a decree to withdraw Ukraine from the Ottawa Convention banning antipersonnel land mines, a Ukrainian lawmaker said Sunday. The move follows similar recent steps by the Baltic States and Poland. The 1997 treaty prohibits the use, production, stockpiling and transfer of antipersonnel land mines in an effort to protect civilians from explosives that can maim or kill long after fighting ends. 'This is a step that the reality of war has long demanded,' said Roman Kostenko, secretary of the Ukrainian parliamentary committee on national security, defense and intelligence. He noted that Russia is not a party to the convention "and is massively using mines against our military and civilians.' ___ Follow AP's coverage of the war in Ukraine at
Yahoo
13 hours ago
- Yahoo
Ukraine loses an F-16 pilot and his jet while fighting one of Russia's biggest ever aerial attacks
A Ukrainian pilot was killed and his F-16 fighter jet crashed after Russia launched a huge aerial assault involving hundreds of drones and scores of missiles overnight, the Ukrainian military said on Sunday. The airman, named as 1st Class Lt. Col. Maksym Ustymenko by the Ukrainian air force, was the third F-16 pilot killed since the Ukrainians began flying the jets last summer, and his plane was the fourth F-16 Ukraine has lost since then. The air force said Ustymenko 'did everything he could to steer the aircraft away from a populated area, but he did not have time to eject.' Ustymenko's death is a major loss for Ukraine. Only a small number of the country's top pilots have been trained to fly F-16s, the most advanced of Ukraine's fighter jets. The training is highly specialized and takes months to complete. Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky said Ustymenko destroyed seven targets before being killed, praising him and the Ukrainian air force for 'heroically protecting' the country's skies. Zelensky said Moscow launched 477 drones and 60 missiles towards six different locations overnight into Sunday – one of Russia's largest ever aerial assaults in terms of weapons deployed, according to a CNN tally. Russia has ramped up its airborne attacks against Ukraine in recent weeks, launching hundreds of drones and missiles nearly every night. These assaults are not just bigger and more frequent; they are also more concentrated and executed in a way that makes them a lot more difficult to combat – as they are flown at higher altitudes, out of reach of machine guns. Zelensky said on Sunday that more than 114 missiles, over 1,270 drones, and nearly 1,100 glide bombs were launched by Russia against Ukraine just this week. The Ukrainian leader pleaded with Kyiv's Western allies to provide more aerial defenses for his country, saying Russia will continue to attack Ukraine for as long as it can. 'This war must be brought to an end — pressure on the aggressor is needed, and so is protection. Protection from ballistic and other missiles, from drones, and from terror,' Zelensky said. He added that Ukraine was ready to buy 'American systems' to strengthen its air defenses – a clear call to US President Donald Trump and his administration to allow Ukraine to purchase the Patriot air defense systems. The Patriots are widely considered to be among the best air defense systems. While there are other systems manufactured by some of Ukraine's other allies, none can match the Patriots when it comes to protection against advanced hypersonic and ballistic missiles. Ukraine is known to have roughly half a dozen of the US-made Patriot air defense systems, although the exact numbers and their locations are closely guarded secrets. The Patriots play a crucial role in Ukraine's air defense, protecting millions of civilians from Russian missiles. But Kyiv is at risk of running out of missiles for these systems, as Trump continues to threaten withdrawing US aid from Ukraine. The Ukrainian air force said Sunday it had downed 211 drones and 38 missiles launched by Moscow overnight. Russian strikes were recorded in six locations with debris reported across eight locations, it added. The Russian Ministry of Defense claimed the strikes targeted Ukraine's 'military-industrial complex facilities and oil refineries,' but the Ukrainians said civilian infrastructure objects were hit. At least 11 people were injured, including two children, in a Russian attack in the city of Smila, in the central region of Cherkasy, local officials said in an update on Sunday. Three nine-story buildings, private houses, and cars were significantly damaged in the shelling, as well as four educational institutions and a psychiatric hospital, Ihor Taburets, head of Cherkasy regional military administration, said. Also on Sunday, Zelensky announced he signed a decree that would take Ukraine out of the Ottawa Treaty, the international agreement that bans the use of anti-personnel landmines. A long-signalled move by Ukraine, the withdrawal still needs to be approved by Ukraine's parliament. Kyiv has long argued that it cannot continue to be member of the treaty because its attacker – Russia – is using landmines in its own teritory. 'This is a step that has long been demanded by the reality of war. Russia is not a party to this Convention and uses mines against our military and civilians on a massive scale. We cannot remain bound by conditions when the enemy has no restrictions,' Roman Kostenko, a member of the Ukrainian Parliament, said in a statement. According to the United Nations, Ukraine is the most heavily mined country in the world. Russia has been using mines extensively in Ukraine's territory, but according a 2023 report from Human Rights Watch found that Ukraine has also used antipersonnel landmines. The US under the Biden Administration approved shipments of landmines to Ukraine last November. Large swathes of Ukrainian land, especially along the frontlines in the east and in areas that were once occupied by Russia, are off limits to civilians because of the mines. Makeshift signs and barriers warning people not to enter are a common sight on the edges of fields and forests and near roads. Ukraine's Foreign Ministry said in a statement that the country 'has made a difficult but necessary political decision' to withdraw from the Ottawa convention, saying the government was 'convinced' it was necessary to do so. At the start of this year, the pact had 165 member states – although several major powers, including Russia, China, India, Pakistan and the United States, have never signed up to it. Finland, Poland, Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania – which all border Russia – have also made moves to pull out of the treaty arguing they were essential for defense. CNN's Sophie Tanno contributed reporting.
Yahoo
13 hours ago
- Yahoo
Ukraine F-16 pilot killed repelling massive Russian air attack
Ukraine has lost an F-16 aircraft and its pilot while repelling a Russian missile and drone strike, according to country's air force, as heavy fighting in the war, now in its fourth year, grinds on daily with no signs of a ceasefire on the horizon. After shooting down seven air targets, the plane was damaged and lost altitude overnight, the Ukrainian military said in a statement published on Telegram on Sunday. 'This night, while repelling a massive enemy air attack, a pilot of the 1st class, Lieutenant Colonel Maksym Ustimenko, born in 1993, died on an F-16 aircraft,' it said. In a separate statement, the air force said Russia launched 537 projectiles against Ukraine, including Shahed drones, cruise and ballistic missiles. Ukraine claimed to have intercepted 475 of them. According to the Kyiv Independent newspaper, the sound of explosions and strikes was reported in multiple areas across the country, including in southern Mykolaiv, southeastern Zaporizhia and western Lviv. Ihor Taburets, the governor of central Ukraine's Cherkasy region, said at least six people were injured and civilian infrastructure was damaged in attacks. Three multistorey buildings and a college were damaged in the attack, he said. Industrial facilities were hit in the southern Ukrainian region of Mykolaiv and the central Dnipropetrovsk region, officials say. Local authorities published photos of high-rise residential buildings with charred walls and broken windows, and rescuers evacuating people. In Russia, the Ministry of Defence said its forces destroyed three Ukrainian drones in the border regions of Kursk and Rostov, and in Ukraine's annexed Crimean Peninsula. Russia's state-run RIA Novosti news agency said one person was killed by a Ukrainian drone in the Russian-controlled part of Ukraine's Luhansk region. Moscow also claimed Sunday that it had taken control of the village of Novoukrainka in the partially Russian-occupied Donetsk region. The latest wave of violence comes after Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday he intended to scale back military expenditure and also indicated he was ready for a new round of peace negotiations with Ukraine. In the past months, Moscow and Kyiv have sent delegations twice to the Turkish city of Istanbul for peace talks, but have made no progress towards ending the conflict, which started after Russia invaded its neighbour more than three years ago. However, both sides agreed upon and showed cooperation on prisoners' swap. Meanwhile, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed a decree on Sunday setting Ukraine on the road to leaving the antimine Ottawa Convention, according to a document published on his website. The treaty bans signatories from acquiring, producing, stockpiling or using antipersonnel mines, which are designed to be buried or hidden on the ground, and often cause terrible injuries to victims, including the loss of limbs, who survive their impact. Rights groups have often decried the long-term risk of unexploded landmines for civilians. More than 160 countries and territories are signatories to the Ottawa Convention, though neither the United States nor Russia has joined. The decision still must be ratified by the Ukrainian parliament, and the United Nations would then need to be notified. Confronted with Russia's invasion, 'Ukraine is compelled to give unconditional priority to the security of its citizens and the defence of the state,' Ukraine's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement. 'Russia … uses mines against our military and civilians on a massive scale. We cannot remain bound by conditions when the enemy has no restrictions,' Ukrainian lawmaker Roman Kostenko said on social media. The treaty withdrawal follows similar decisions by Kyiv's allies – Poland, Finland, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia – which are all neighbours of Russia.
