Russia attacks Ukraine’s Kharkiv as prisoner swap hangs in balance

Russian forces have attacked the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv using drones, missiles and guided bombs, killing at least four people, in an attack a local official called “the most powerful attack” on the area since the start of the war.

The series of attacks on Saturday came as an agreed exchange of prisoners of war appeared to hang in the balance with contradictory signals from Moscow and Kyiv.

The Ukrainian Air Force said on Saturday that Russia struck with 215 missiles and drones overnight, and Ukrainian air defences shot down and neutralised 87 drones and seven missiles.

At least three people were killed in the evening in Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, Mayor Ihor Terekhov said, describing the assault as “the most powerful” on the city since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

Later Saturday, Russia dropped aerial bombs on the city centre, killing another person and wounding five more, Kharkiv’s mayor said.

The two attacks wounded more than 60 people, including children and a baby, local officials said.

Terekhov said of the early hours initial attack that 48 Iranian-made drones, two missiles and four guided bombs were fired before dawn at the city of 1.4 million people, located just 50km (30 miles) from the Russian border.

Kharkiv resident Alina Belous told The Associated Press news agency that she had tried to extinguish flames with buckets of water to rescue a young girl trapped inside a burning building who had called out for help.

“We were trying to put it out ourselves with our buckets, together with our neighbours. Then the rescuers arrived and started helping us put out the fire, but there was smoke and they worried that we couldn’t stay there. When the ceiling started falling off, they took us out,” she said.

Kharkiv was also hit by a Russian missile strike on Thursday that left 18 people injured, including four children.

Surge in attacks

Elsewhere in the south, Russian shelling hit the city of Kherson, killing a couple and damaging residential buildings, regional Governor Oleksandr Prokudin confirmed. In Dnipro, two women, aged 45 and 88, were injured in separate attacks.

Officials said that at least six people were killed and dozens were wounded on Friday when Russia launched an aerial bombardment across Ukraine. Rescue workers in the city of Lutsk on Saturday recovered another body, raising the toll from Friday’s attacks to seven.

Moscow said Friday’s assault was carried out in response to Ukrainian “terrorist acts” against Russia, saying military sites were targeted.

The surge in Russian attacks follows an unprecedented Ukrainian drone operation last weekend that damaged nuclear-capable military aircraft at Russian airbases deep behind the front lines, including in Siberia. Russian President Vladimir Putin pledged to retaliate for the attack, which Kyiv reportedly planned for 18 months using smuggled drones.

The strike reportedly targeted Russian bombers as they were being prepared for operations against Ukraine.

Ukraine, however, continues to push for a 30-day ceasefire and presented its latest proposal during talks in Istanbul on Monday. But Moscow has rejected calls for an immediate truce, insisting the war is a matter of national survival.

“For us, it is an existential issue,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said on Friday. “It concerns our national interest, our safety, and the future of our country.”

Putin has demanded Ukraine withdraw from four partially occupied regions, abandon its NATO ambitions and halt all Western military cooperation – terms Kyiv has dismissed as unacceptable. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has instead called for a three-way summit involving himself, Putin and United States President Donald Trump.

Exchange of prisoners

Later on Saturday, Ukraine rejected Russian claims that it delayed a planned exchange of prisoners and the return of soldiers’ remains, saying Moscow’s accusations were false and politically motivated.

Kremlin adviser Vladimir Medinsky had alleged that Kyiv indefinitely postponed the process, despite a prior agreement reached during talks in Istanbul to repatriate 12,000 bodies and conduct further prisoner swaps.

“The statements made today by the Russian side do not correspond to reality or previous agreements,” Ukraine’s Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War said in a Telegram post. It accused Moscow of “foul play” and deliberate “manipulation”.