Ukraine and Russia conduct another POW swap
Ukraine and Russia conducted another POW swap -- the fourth one in a week -- the warring sides said on Saturday, under agreements reached in Istanbul earlier this month.
"We continue to take our people out of Russian captivity. This is the fourth exchange in a week," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky wrote on social media.
"In accordance with the Russian-Ukrainian agreements... another group of Russian servicemen was returned from the territory controlled by the Kyiv regime," Russia's defence ministry said on Telegram.
Kyiv also said it had received another batch of 1,200 unidentified bodies from Russia, which it said Russia claimed "belong to Ukrainian citizens, including military personnel," as part of the Istanbul agreements as well.
Ukraine did not say whether it returned any bodies to Russia.
Photos published by Zelensky on Telegram showed men of various ages, mostly with shaved heads, wearing camouflage and draped in Ukrainian flags.
Some were injured, others disembarked from buses and hugged those welcoming them, or were seen calling someone by phone, sometimes covering their faces or smiling.
Moscow's defence ministry released its own video showing men in uniforms holding Russian flags, clapping and chanting "Russia, Russia", "glory to Russia" and "hooray", some raising their fists in the air.
The exchange came as Russia repeatedly rejected ceasefire calls and intensified its offensive along the front line, and especially in the northeastern Sumy region, where it seeks to establish a "buffer zone" to protect its Kursk region, previously partly occupied by Ukraine.
Zelensky claimed Russia's advance on Sumy was stopped, adding that Kyiv's forces have managed to retake one village.
According to the Ukrainian president, Russia was using 53,000 men in the Sumy operation.
bur-asy/rmb
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Advertiser
6 hours ago
- The Advertiser
Russia says its troops occupy Ukraine's Luhansk region
A Russia-appointed official in Ukraine's occupied Luhansk region says Moscow's forces have overrun all of it - one of four regions Russia illegally annexed from Ukraine in September 2022 despite not fully controlling a single one. If confirmed, that would make Luhansk the first Ukrainian region fully occupied by Russia after more than three years of war and as recent US-led international peace efforts have failed to make progress on halting the fighting. Russian President Vladimir Putin has effectively rejected a ceasefire and hasn't budged from his demands, which include Moscow's control over the four illegally annexed regions. There was no immediate comment from Kyiv on the claim made by the Moscow-installed leader of the occupied region, Leonid Pasechnik. In remarks to Russia's state TV Channel One that aired Monday evening, Pasechnik said he received a report "literally two days ago" saying that "100 per cent" of the region was now under the control of Russian forces. The development came just hours after the top German diplomat said that Germany aims to help Ukraine manufacture more weapons more quickly as Kyiv looks to strengthen its negotiating position in peace talks with Russia. "We see our task as helping Ukraine so that it can negotiate more strongly," Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul said during a visit to Kyiv. "When Putin speaks of peace today, it is pure mockery," Wadephul told a news conference with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha. "His apparent readiness to negotiate is only a facade so far." Russia's invasion shows no sign of letting up. Its grinding war of attrition along the roughly 1000km front line and long-range strikes on civilian areas of Ukraine have killed thousands of troops and civilians. Ukraine is outgunned and shorthanded on the front line and international aid has been vital for Ukraine's resistance against its neighbour's bigger army and economy. Germany has been Ukraine's second-largest military backer after the US, whose continuing support is in doubt. "We want to build new joint ventures so that Ukraine itself can produce faster and more for its own defence, because your needs are enormous," Wadephul said. "Our arms co-operation is a real trump card - it is a logical continuation of our delivery of material," Wadephul said. "And we can even benefit mutually from it - with your wealth of ideas and your experience, we will become better." Wadephul also met with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy. The top German diplomat's trip to Kyiv came less than 48 hours after Russia launched its biggest combined aerial attack against Ukraine over the weekend, Ukrainian officials said, in an escalating bombing campaign that has further dashed hopes for a breakthrough in peace efforts. Ukraine's air force said on Monday it detected 107 Russian Shahed and decoy drones in the country's air space overnight. Strikes in Ukraine's northeastern Kharkiv region left two civilians dead and eight injured, including a six-year-old child, regional Governor Oleh Syniehubov said. The aerial onslaughts are calculated by Russia to squeeze Ukraine into submission, according to the Institute for the Study of War. "Russia is continuing to use increasingly large numbers of drones in its overnight strike packages in order to overwhelm Ukrainian air defences and enable subsequent cruise and ballistic missile strikes," the Washington-based think tank said late on Sunday. "The increases in Russia's strike packages in recent weeks are largely due to Russia's efforts to scale up its defence industrial production, particularly of Shahed and decoy drones and ballistic missiles," the institute added. The Russians "are attacking civilian targets in order to create panic, to influence the mood of our population," he said. A Russia-appointed official in Ukraine's occupied Luhansk region says Moscow's forces have overrun all of it - one of four regions Russia illegally annexed from Ukraine in September 2022 despite not fully controlling a single one. If confirmed, that would make Luhansk the first Ukrainian region fully occupied by Russia after more than three years of war and as recent US-led international peace efforts have failed to make progress on halting the fighting. Russian President Vladimir Putin has effectively rejected a ceasefire and hasn't budged from his demands, which include Moscow's control over the four illegally annexed regions. There was no immediate comment from Kyiv on the claim made by the Moscow-installed leader of the occupied region, Leonid Pasechnik. In remarks to Russia's state TV Channel One that aired Monday evening, Pasechnik said he received a report "literally two days ago" saying that "100 per cent" of the region was now under the control of Russian forces. The development came just hours after the top German diplomat said that Germany aims to help Ukraine manufacture more weapons more quickly as Kyiv looks to strengthen its negotiating position in peace talks with Russia. "We see our task as helping Ukraine so that it can negotiate more strongly," Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul said during a visit to Kyiv. "When Putin speaks of peace today, it is pure mockery," Wadephul told a news conference with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha. "His apparent readiness to negotiate is only a facade so far." Russia's invasion shows no sign of letting up. Its grinding war of attrition along the roughly 1000km front line and long-range strikes on civilian areas of Ukraine have killed thousands of troops and civilians. Ukraine is outgunned and shorthanded on the front line and international aid has been vital for Ukraine's resistance against its neighbour's bigger army and economy. Germany has been Ukraine's second-largest military backer after the US, whose continuing support is in doubt. "We want to build new joint ventures so that Ukraine itself can produce faster and more for its own defence, because your needs are enormous," Wadephul said. "Our arms co-operation is a real trump card - it is a logical continuation of our delivery of material," Wadephul said. "And we can even benefit mutually from it - with your wealth of ideas and your experience, we will become better." Wadephul also met with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy. The top German diplomat's trip to Kyiv came less than 48 hours after Russia launched its biggest combined aerial attack against Ukraine over the weekend, Ukrainian officials said, in an escalating bombing campaign that has further dashed hopes for a breakthrough in peace efforts. Ukraine's air force said on Monday it detected 107 Russian Shahed and decoy drones in the country's air space overnight. Strikes in Ukraine's northeastern Kharkiv region left two civilians dead and eight injured, including a six-year-old child, regional Governor Oleh Syniehubov said. The aerial onslaughts are calculated by Russia to squeeze Ukraine into submission, according to the Institute for the Study of War. "Russia is continuing to use increasingly large numbers of drones in its overnight strike packages in order to overwhelm Ukrainian air defences and enable subsequent cruise and ballistic missile strikes," the Washington-based think tank said late on Sunday. "The increases in Russia's strike packages in recent weeks are largely due to Russia's efforts to scale up its defence industrial production, particularly of Shahed and decoy drones and ballistic missiles," the institute added. The Russians "are attacking civilian targets in order to create panic, to influence the mood of our population," he said. A Russia-appointed official in Ukraine's occupied Luhansk region says Moscow's forces have overrun all of it - one of four regions Russia illegally annexed from Ukraine in September 2022 despite not fully controlling a single one. If confirmed, that would make Luhansk the first Ukrainian region fully occupied by Russia after more than three years of war and as recent US-led international peace efforts have failed to make progress on halting the fighting. Russian President Vladimir Putin has effectively rejected a ceasefire and hasn't budged from his demands, which include Moscow's control over the four illegally annexed regions. There was no immediate comment from Kyiv on the claim made by the Moscow-installed leader of the occupied region, Leonid Pasechnik. In remarks to Russia's state TV Channel One that aired Monday evening, Pasechnik said he received a report "literally two days ago" saying that "100 per cent" of the region was now under the control of Russian forces. The development came just hours after the top German diplomat said that Germany aims to help Ukraine manufacture more weapons more quickly as Kyiv looks to strengthen its negotiating position in peace talks with Russia. "We see our task as helping Ukraine so that it can negotiate more strongly," Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul said during a visit to Kyiv. "When Putin speaks of peace today, it is pure mockery," Wadephul told a news conference with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha. "His apparent readiness to negotiate is only a facade so far." Russia's invasion shows no sign of letting up. Its grinding war of attrition along the roughly 1000km front line and long-range strikes on civilian areas of Ukraine have killed thousands of troops and civilians. Ukraine is outgunned and shorthanded on the front line and international aid has been vital for Ukraine's resistance against its neighbour's bigger army and economy. Germany has been Ukraine's second-largest military backer after the US, whose continuing support is in doubt. "We want to build new joint ventures so that Ukraine itself can produce faster and more for its own defence, because your needs are enormous," Wadephul said. "Our arms co-operation is a real trump card - it is a logical continuation of our delivery of material," Wadephul said. "And we can even benefit mutually from it - with your wealth of ideas and your experience, we will become better." Wadephul also met with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy. The top German diplomat's trip to Kyiv came less than 48 hours after Russia launched its biggest combined aerial attack against Ukraine over the weekend, Ukrainian officials said, in an escalating bombing campaign that has further dashed hopes for a breakthrough in peace efforts. Ukraine's air force said on Monday it detected 107 Russian Shahed and decoy drones in the country's air space overnight. Strikes in Ukraine's northeastern Kharkiv region left two civilians dead and eight injured, including a six-year-old child, regional Governor Oleh Syniehubov said. The aerial onslaughts are calculated by Russia to squeeze Ukraine into submission, according to the Institute for the Study of War. "Russia is continuing to use increasingly large numbers of drones in its overnight strike packages in order to overwhelm Ukrainian air defences and enable subsequent cruise and ballistic missile strikes," the Washington-based think tank said late on Sunday. "The increases in Russia's strike packages in recent weeks are largely due to Russia's efforts to scale up its defence industrial production, particularly of Shahed and decoy drones and ballistic missiles," the institute added. The Russians "are attacking civilian targets in order to create panic, to influence the mood of our population," he said. A Russia-appointed official in Ukraine's occupied Luhansk region says Moscow's forces have overrun all of it - one of four regions Russia illegally annexed from Ukraine in September 2022 despite not fully controlling a single one. If confirmed, that would make Luhansk the first Ukrainian region fully occupied by Russia after more than three years of war and as recent US-led international peace efforts have failed to make progress on halting the fighting. Russian President Vladimir Putin has effectively rejected a ceasefire and hasn't budged from his demands, which include Moscow's control over the four illegally annexed regions. There was no immediate comment from Kyiv on the claim made by the Moscow-installed leader of the occupied region, Leonid Pasechnik. In remarks to Russia's state TV Channel One that aired Monday evening, Pasechnik said he received a report "literally two days ago" saying that "100 per cent" of the region was now under the control of Russian forces. The development came just hours after the top German diplomat said that Germany aims to help Ukraine manufacture more weapons more quickly as Kyiv looks to strengthen its negotiating position in peace talks with Russia. "We see our task as helping Ukraine so that it can negotiate more strongly," Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul said during a visit to Kyiv. "When Putin speaks of peace today, it is pure mockery," Wadephul told a news conference with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha. "His apparent readiness to negotiate is only a facade so far." Russia's invasion shows no sign of letting up. Its grinding war of attrition along the roughly 1000km front line and long-range strikes on civilian areas of Ukraine have killed thousands of troops and civilians. Ukraine is outgunned and shorthanded on the front line and international aid has been vital for Ukraine's resistance against its neighbour's bigger army and economy. Germany has been Ukraine's second-largest military backer after the US, whose continuing support is in doubt. "We want to build new joint ventures so that Ukraine itself can produce faster and more for its own defence, because your needs are enormous," Wadephul said. "Our arms co-operation is a real trump card - it is a logical continuation of our delivery of material," Wadephul said. "And we can even benefit mutually from it - with your wealth of ideas and your experience, we will become better." Wadephul also met with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy. The top German diplomat's trip to Kyiv came less than 48 hours after Russia launched its biggest combined aerial attack against Ukraine over the weekend, Ukrainian officials said, in an escalating bombing campaign that has further dashed hopes for a breakthrough in peace efforts. Ukraine's air force said on Monday it detected 107 Russian Shahed and decoy drones in the country's air space overnight. Strikes in Ukraine's northeastern Kharkiv region left two civilians dead and eight injured, including a six-year-old child, regional Governor Oleh Syniehubov said. The aerial onslaughts are calculated by Russia to squeeze Ukraine into submission, according to the Institute for the Study of War. "Russia is continuing to use increasingly large numbers of drones in its overnight strike packages in order to overwhelm Ukrainian air defences and enable subsequent cruise and ballistic missile strikes," the Washington-based think tank said late on Sunday. "The increases in Russia's strike packages in recent weeks are largely due to Russia's efforts to scale up its defence industrial production, particularly of Shahed and decoy drones and ballistic missiles," the institute added. The Russians "are attacking civilian targets in order to create panic, to influence the mood of our population," he said.
Perth Now
7 hours ago
- Perth Now
Russia says its troops occupy Ukraine's Luhansk region
A Russia-appointed official in Ukraine's occupied Luhansk region says Moscow's forces have overrun all of it - one of four regions Russia illegally annexed from Ukraine in September 2022 despite not fully controlling a single one. If confirmed, that would make Luhansk the first Ukrainian region fully occupied by Russia after more than three years of war and as recent US-led international peace efforts have failed to make progress on halting the fighting. Russian President Vladimir Putin has effectively rejected a ceasefire and hasn't budged from his demands, which include Moscow's control over the four illegally annexed regions. There was no immediate comment from Kyiv on the claim made by the Moscow-installed leader of the occupied region, Leonid Pasechnik. In remarks to Russia's state TV Channel One that aired Monday evening, Pasechnik said he received a report "literally two days ago" saying that "100 per cent" of the region was now under the control of Russian forces. The development came just hours after the top German diplomat said that Germany aims to help Ukraine manufacture more weapons more quickly as Kyiv looks to strengthen its negotiating position in peace talks with Russia. "We see our task as helping Ukraine so that it can negotiate more strongly," Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul said during a visit to Kyiv. "When Putin speaks of peace today, it is pure mockery," Wadephul told a news conference with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha. "His apparent readiness to negotiate is only a facade so far." Russia's invasion shows no sign of letting up. Its grinding war of attrition along the roughly 1000km front line and long-range strikes on civilian areas of Ukraine have killed thousands of troops and civilians. Ukraine is outgunned and shorthanded on the front line and international aid has been vital for Ukraine's resistance against its neighbour's bigger army and economy. Germany has been Ukraine's second-largest military backer after the US, whose continuing support is in doubt. "We want to build new joint ventures so that Ukraine itself can produce faster and more for its own defence, because your needs are enormous," Wadephul said. "Our arms co-operation is a real trump card - it is a logical continuation of our delivery of material," Wadephul said. "And we can even benefit mutually from it - with your wealth of ideas and your experience, we will become better." Wadephul also met with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy. The top German diplomat's trip to Kyiv came less than 48 hours after Russia launched its biggest combined aerial attack against Ukraine over the weekend, Ukrainian officials said, in an escalating bombing campaign that has further dashed hopes for a breakthrough in peace efforts. Ukraine's air force said on Monday it detected 107 Russian Shahed and decoy drones in the country's air space overnight. Strikes in Ukraine's northeastern Kharkiv region left two civilians dead and eight injured, including a six-year-old child, regional Governor Oleh Syniehubov said. The aerial onslaughts are calculated by Russia to squeeze Ukraine into submission, according to the Institute for the Study of War. "Russia is continuing to use increasingly large numbers of drones in its overnight strike packages in order to overwhelm Ukrainian air defences and enable subsequent cruise and ballistic missile strikes," the Washington-based think tank said late on Sunday. "The increases in Russia's strike packages in recent weeks are largely due to Russia's efforts to scale up its defence industrial production, particularly of Shahed and decoy drones and ballistic missiles," the institute added. The Russians "are attacking civilian targets in order to create panic, to influence the mood of our population," he said.
ABC News
10 hours ago
- ABC News
Could Donald Trump's power struggle with Federal Reserve create next financial crisis?
Physics often has a funny habit of accurately describing human behaviour. Take Newton's third law that, for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. It's a maxim that could apply to all manner of geopolitical events and upheavals right now from the wars tearing apart the Middle East to Vladimir Putin's disastrous military adventure in Ukraine. And then there is America. After just five months in power, US President Donald Trump predictably has driven a wrecking ball through the foundations of American society with his attacks on the legal system, various arms of government, academia and the media. In recent weeks, he's re-opened an old front from his first term, the independence of the US Federal Reserve and, particularly, its chair Jerome Powell — who, incidentally, Trump appointed. It's a battle that could have profound impacts on the US economy and, by extension, the rest of the world. For Trump, this is unfinished business, you might say, after belittling and demonising Powell during his first term for not slavishly following his orders. Now, he's at it again. This time, however, he has met an intractable force. Unlike Congress, the Republican party and some in the courts, the Fed boss is standing his ground and refusing, point blank, to bend to Trump's will to immediately slash interest rates. Late last year, when asked whether he would resign if Trump demanded it, Powell gave an uncharacteristically blunt answer. "No." When pressed as to whether he was worried the new president would remove him, he uttered a simple retort, twice: Unsurprisingly, Powell has been met with a barrage of schoolyard insults from the Commander in Chief — "dumb", "stupid", "numbskull" and "a disaster", to name a few. That's just in public. With just under a year of Powell's term to go, the president seems hell bent on announcing his replacement within months, possibly sooner, to stymie his power. The reaction could be severe and ultimately may destabilise America's economy. Powell threw down the gauntlet to Trump last week in a hearing before Congress. When questioned as to why the Fed had decided to keep interest rates on hold, the Fed chair calmly sheeted the blame back on the president and his tariff policies. "We do expect tariff inflation to show up more," Powell said. That's an eminently responsible course of action. Cutting rates ahead of a potential inflation spike could spell disaster for the US and the rest of the world. And then there's the potential impact on global growth. Even the vastly reduced proposed impost on China — now set at 40 per cent — is expected to have widespread and damaging consequences. In the meantime, the president is racing to have his "One Big Beautiful Bill" pushed through the House by July 19. Beyond that date, the whole thing lapses, and the process will need to start all over again. There are two reasons Trump wants interest rates cut to almost 1 per cent immediately. The first is that it will lift his approval ratings. But the second is the ballooning US government debt. The annual interest bill on its $US36 trillion debt is now bigger than America's defence spend. Cutting rates would dramatically reduce the interest bill and make it appear as though the new administration is successfully managing the economy. Given Trump's signature Big Beautiful Bill — with its tax cuts for the rich and increased spending — will dramatically blow out that debt over the next 30 years, he's desperate to create that illusion. Right now, US debt is around 120 per cent of GDP, the kind of levels that caused a full-blown debt crisis with Greece and the European Union just over a decade ago. With Trump's bill, it could grow to between 170 per cent and 190 per cent of GDP by 2054. Stock markets finished the financial year on a high. Our market delivered returns just shy of 10 per cent, while Wall Street hit records over the weekend. They've cast aside the chaos caused by Trump's "Liberation Day" tariffs in April, which are about to get second airing, and a war in Iran. But bond markets remain uneasy, pushing US market interest rates higher, as global investors continue to shift money out of America. The US dollar is now at a three-year low. Uppermost among the concerns is the independence of the US Federal Reserve and whether it can maintain its role as a responsible agency for monetary policy. The president, half in jest, pondered aloud a fortnight ago whether he may be able to appoint himself to replace Powell. Back in April, he canvassed sacking him, but dismissed the idea as bond markets went into revolt over his tariff plans. Trump now seems convinced that Powell's replacement could be named early and possibly even sit as a "shadow chair" on the Fed board. Some commentators are concerned that such a move would make Powell a lame-duck chair. But the greater risk surely would be that the Federal Reserve would be a lame-duck central bank. For whoever Trump appoints — regardless of their ability or standing — may well be tainted by the perception that they are nothing more than a presidential puppet with a primary focus on securing another election win rather than managing the economy. Such a move could spark a repeat of April's bond market panic. Back then, investors dumped US government bonds, which pushed US market interest rates sharply higher. Cutting official US rates could have the opposite reaction, pushing market rates higher as confidence ebbs and perceived US risks rise. That, in turn, could put serious added strains on America's ability to service its debt. But the showdown between Powell and Trump goes deeper than debt servicing ability. It goes to the heart of credibility at the world's most powerful financial institution. That's dangerous territory to be playing in. This time next week, Michele Bullock and the rate-setting gurus at the Reserve Bank of Australia will settle in for yet another nail-biting decision on where domestic interest rates are headed. Financial markets have all but signed off on another 0.25 percentage point rate cut to 3.6 per cent. Economists, who were divided last week, are mostly coming to the same conclusion. The most recent GDP figures were weak, and inflation is cooling at a faster clip than expected. While the RBA in the past has been extremely cautious with rate cuts and could easily wait until August — after the June quarter inflation data drops — the weak domestic data and the rising wave of offshore uncertainty is probably enough to tip the balance. The fallout from a US bond market conniption in reaction to a loss of confidence in the Fed could be severe. There'd be the inevitable financial markets jolt. But that would feed through to the broader financial system, the complex structure that oils the wheels of business and feeds through to the fragile emotions that determine much of our worldly wellbeing. Trust, confidence and optimism can quickly evaporate and turn to fear. Actions and reactions.
