\n\t\t\t\t\t\t Russian drone strikes killed at least two people in the Ukrainian city of Odesa overnight into Saturday, local authorities reported, ahead of a proposed ceasefire for Orthodox Easter.Related video above: New Hampshire volunteers in Ukraine deliver humanitarian aid amid large-scale Russian attackA further two people were wounded in the attack on the Black Sea port city when drones hit a residential area, damaging apartment buildings, houses and a kindergarten.According to the Ukrainian Air Force, Russia targeted Ukraine with 160 drones overnight, of which 133 were shot down or intercepted, hours before a proposed Easter ceasefire was due to come into force.Russia\u2019s Defense Ministry said 99 Ukrainian drones were shot down overnight across Russia and occupied Crimea.Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday declared a 32-hour ceasefire over the Orthodox Easter weekend, ordering Russian forces to halt hostilities from 4 p.m. Saturday until the end of Sunday.Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy promised Saturday to abide by the ceasefire, describing it as an opportunity to build on peace initiatives. But he warned there would be a swift military response to any violations.\u201cEaster should be a time of silence and safety. A ceasefire (at) Easter could also become the beginning of real movement toward peace,\u201d Zelenskyy wrote in an online post on Saturday.But he added, \u201cWe all understand who we are dealing with. Ukraine will adhere to the ceasefire and respond strictly in kind.\u201dUkraine earlier proposed to Russia a pause in attacks on each other\u2019s energy infrastructure over the Orthodox Easter holiday.Previous ceasefire attempts have had little impact, with both sides accusing each other of violations.Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Friday described Putin\u2019s move as a \u201chumanitarian\u201d gesture, but said Moscow remains focused on a comprehensive settlement based on its longstanding demands \u2014 a key sticking point that has prevented the two sides from reaching an agreement.Prisoners exchangedRussia\u2019s Defense Ministry said that a prisoner swap Saturday brought home 175 of its soldiers.Zelenskyy confirmed Saturday\u2019s exchange, saying that 175 service members and seven civilians were returned.\u201cMost had been held in captivity since 2022. And finally, they are home,\u201d he wrote on X.At the exchange site in northern Ukraine, Svitlana Pohosyan waited for her son\u2019s return. Asked about the ceasefire, she said, \u201cI want to believe it. God willing, may it be so. We will believe and hope that everything will be fine, that a ceasefire will come on such a holy day, and that there will be peace \u2014 peace in Ukraine and peace in the whole world.\u201d\u201cMy celebration will come when my son returns,\u201d she added. \u201cI will hold him in my arms \u2014 and that will be the greatest celebration for me. And for every mother, every family.”Periodic prisoner exchanges have been one of the few positive outcomes of otherwise fruitless monthslong U.S.-brokered negotiations between Moscow and Kyiv. The talks have delivered no progress on key issues preventing an end to Russia\u2019s invasion of its neighbor, now in its fifth year.Separately, seven residents of Russia’s Kursk region returned from Ukraine Saturday after they were captured by the Ukrainian army, Russian state media reported. They were greeted at the Belarusian-Ukrainian border by Russia’s human rights ombudswoman, Tatyana Moskalkova.According to Moskalkova, the returnees were the last of those who were taken to Ukraine from the Kursk region after the Ukrainian army took control of parts of the region in 2024.Ukrainian forces made a surprise incursion into Kursk in August 2024 in one of their biggest battlefield successes in the war. The incursion was the first time Russian territory was occupied by an invader since World War II and dealt a humiliating blow to the Kremlin.___Zhyhinas reported from northern Ukraine. Morton reported from London.\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\tKYIV, Ukraine \u2014 \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
Russian drone strikes killed at least two people in the Ukrainian city of Odesa overnight into Saturday, local authorities reported, ahead of a proposed ceasefire for Orthodox Easter.<\/p>\n
Related video above: New Hampshire volunteers in Ukraine deliver humanitarian aid amid large-scale Russian attack<\/p>\n
A further two people were wounded in the attack on the Black Sea port city when drones hit a residential area, damaging apartment buildings, houses and a kindergarten.<\/p>\n
According to the Ukrainian Air Force, Russia targeted Ukraine with 160 drones overnight, of which 133 were shot down or intercepted, hours before a proposed Easter ceasefire was due to come into force.<\/p>\n
Russia\u2019s Defense Ministry said 99 Ukrainian drones were shot down overnight across Russia and occupied Crimea.<\/p>\n
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday declared a 32-hour ceasefire over the Orthodox Easter weekend, ordering Russian forces to halt hostilities from 4 p.m. Saturday until the end of Sunday.<\/p>\n
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy promised Saturday to abide by the ceasefire, describing it as an opportunity to build on peace initiatives. But he warned there would be a swift military response to any violations.<\/p>\n
\u201cEaster should be a time of silence and safety. A ceasefire (at) Easter could also become the beginning of real movement toward peace,\u201d Zelenskyy wrote in an online post on Saturday.<\/p>\n
But he added, \u201cWe all understand who we are dealing with. Ukraine will adhere to the ceasefire and respond strictly in kind.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ukraine earlier proposed to Russia a pause in attacks on each other\u2019s energy infrastructure over the Orthodox Easter holiday.<\/p>\n
Previous ceasefire attempts have had little impact, with both sides accusing each other of violations.<\/p>\n
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Friday described Putin\u2019s move as a \u201chumanitarian\u201d gesture, but said Moscow remains focused on a comprehensive settlement based on its longstanding demands \u2014 a key sticking point that has prevented the two sides from reaching an agreement.<\/p>\n
Prisoners exchanged<\/p>\n
Russia\u2019s Defense Ministry said that a prisoner swap Saturday brought home 175 of its soldiers.<\/p>\n
Zelenskyy confirmed Saturday\u2019s exchange, saying that 175 service members and seven civilians were returned.<\/p>\n
\u201cMost had been held in captivity since 2022. And finally, they are home,\u201d he wrote on X.<\/p>\n
At the exchange site in northern Ukraine, Svitlana Pohosyan waited for her son\u2019s return. Asked about the ceasefire, she said, \u201cI want to believe it. God willing, may it be so. We will believe and hope that everything will be fine, that a ceasefire will come on such a holy day, and that there will be peace \u2014 peace in Ukraine and peace in the whole world.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMy celebration will come when my son returns,\u201d she added. \u201cI will hold him in my arms \u2014 and that will be the greatest celebration for me. And for every mother, every family.”<\/p>\n
Periodic prisoner exchanges have been one of the few positive outcomes of otherwise fruitless monthslong U.S.-brokered negotiations between Moscow and Kyiv. The talks have delivered no progress on key issues preventing an end to Russia\u2019s invasion of its neighbor, now in its fifth year.<\/p>\n
Separately, seven residents of Russia’s Kursk region returned from Ukraine Saturday after they were captured by the Ukrainian army, Russian state media reported. They were greeted at the Belarusian-Ukrainian border by Russia’s human rights ombudswoman, Tatyana Moskalkova.<\/p>\n
According to Moskalkova, the returnees were the last of those who were taken to Ukraine from the Kursk region after the Ukrainian army took control of parts of the region in 2024.<\/p>\n
Ukrainian forces made a surprise incursion into Kursk in August 2024 in one of their biggest battlefield successes in the war. The incursion was the first time Russian territory was occupied by an invader since World War II and dealt a humiliating blow to the Kremlin.<\/p>\n
___<\/p>\n
Zhyhinas reported from northern Ukraine. Morton reported from London.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Russian drone strikes killed at least two people in the Ukrainian city of Odesa overnight into Saturday, local…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":6014,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[1357,1821,592,3918,1533,356,26,759,1058,1538,5,3921,3919,1682,3920,25,21,231,11],"class_list":{"0":"post-6013","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-russia","8":"tag-attack","9":"tag-ceasefire","10":"tag-drone","11":"tag-kill","12":"tag-kursk","13":"tag-kyiv","14":"tag-moscow","15":"tag-odesa","16":"tag-orthodox-easter","17":"tag-prisoner-exchange","18":"tag-russia","19":"tag-sknd","20":"tag-strike","21":"tag-tatyana-moskalkova","22":"tag-truce","23":"tag-ukraine","24":"tag-vladimir-putin","25":"tag-volodymyr-zelenskyy","26":"tag-war"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/russia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6013","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/russia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/russia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/russia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/russia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6013"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/russia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6013\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/russia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6014"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/russia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6013"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/russia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6013"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/russia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6013"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}