Ukraine-Russia war latest: Zelensky hits out at US ‘silence’ after 12 killed in biggest air raid of war

The Russian activist and widow of the late Russian dissident Alexei Navalny said Trump speaking to the Russian president “like they’re equal” is making him more powerful.

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The POW exchange was the latest of dozens of swaps since the war began but also the biggest involving Ukrainian civilians.

Still, it has not halted the fighting. Battles have continued along the roughly 1,000-kilometer (620-mile) front line, where tens of thousands of soldiers have been killed, and neither country has relented in its deep strikes.

Russia’s Defense Ministry quoted Yaroslav Yakimkin of the “North” group of Russian forces as saying Sunday that Ukrainian troops have been pushed back from the border in the Kursk region, which Putin visited days ago.

“The troops continue to advance forward every day,” Yakimkin said, adding that Russians forces have taken Marine and Loknya in Ukraine’s northeastern Sumy region, which borders Kursk, over the past week, and were advancing in the Kharkiv region around the largely destroyed town of Vovchansk.

For Kyiv, the day was particularly somber as the city observed Kyiv Day, a national holiday that falls on the last Sunday in May, commemorating its founding in the 5th century,

Zelenskyy said Russian missiles and drones hit more than 30 cities and villages and urged Western partners to ramp up sanctions on Russia — a longstanding demand of the Ukrainian leader but one that despite warnings to Moscow by the United States and Europe has not materialized in ways to deter Russia.

“These were deliberate strikes on ordinary cities,” Zelenskyy wrote on X, adding that Sunday’s targets included Kyiv, Zhytomyr, Khmelnytskyi, Ternopil, Chernihiv, Sumy, Odesa, Poltava, Dnipro, Mykolaiv, Kharkiv and Cherkasy regions.

“Without truly strong pressure on the Russian leadership, this brutality cannot be stopped. Sanctions will certainly help,” Zelenskyy said. “Determination matters now — the determination of the United States, of European countries, and of all those around the world who seek peace.”

Read the full article here after a large-scale drone and missile strike hit Ukraine overnight:

In Markhalivka, just outside Kyiv where several village homes were burned down, the Fedorenkos watched their ruined home in tears.

“The street looks like Bakhmut, like Mariupol, it’s just terrible,” says 76-year-old Liubov Fedorenko, comparing their village to some of Ukraine’s most devastated cities.

She said she was grateful her daughter and the grandchildren hadn’t joined them for the weekend.

“I was trying to persuade my daughter to come to us,” Fedorenko said, adding that she told her daughter, “After all, you live on the eighth floor in Kyiv, and here it’s the ground floor.”

‘”She said, ‘No, mum, I’m not coming.’ And thank God she didn’t come, because the rocket hit (the house) on the side where the children’s rooms were,” Fedorenko said.

Another 303 Ukrainian servicemen have been welcomed home after being kept as prisoners of war by Russia.

In a post on X, Volodymyr Zelensky shared images of them reuniting with their loved ones and vowed: “We will definitely bring every single one of our people back from Russian captivity.”

Russian troops have taken control of the village of Romanivka in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, the Russian Defence Ministry said on Sunday in a statement.

The battlefield report has not been independently verified.

The Netherlands will send the last one of 24 promised F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine on Monday, Defence Minister Ruben Brekelmans said on Sunday on a Dutch television talk show.

The first 23 Dutch F-16 jets were delivered from last summer. The Netherlands has also provided fighter jets to a training centre in Romania for Ukrainian pilots and crew.

Russia and Ukraine have completed the final stage of their prisoner exchange deal, with now 1,000 servicemen from each side returned to their country.

According to the Russian ministry of defence, 303 Russian servicemen and the same number of Ukrainians have been handed over.

The deal has been completed in three stages over the past three days.

The latest air attack on Ukraine was the largest since the war started in 2022.

“This was a combined, ruthless strike aimed at civilians. The enemy once again showed that its goal is fear and death,” Zelensky wrote on Telegram.

The assault comes as Ukraine and Russia prepared to conduct the third and final day of a prisoner swap in which both sides will exchange a total of 1000 people each.