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Ukraine is working to restart prisoner exchanges with Russia that could bring home 1,200 Ukrainian captives, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Sunday, a day after his national security chief reported progress in talks.
“We are counting on the resumption of POW exchanges,” Zelenskyy wrote on X. “Many meetings, negotiations and calls are currently taking place to ensure this.”
Rustem Umerov, Secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defence Council, said on Saturday he held consultations mediated by Turkey and the United Arab Emirates on resuming the swaps.
He said both sides agreed to reactivate prisoner exchange agreements brokered in Istanbul to release 1,200 Ukrainians. Moscow did not immediately respond to the claim.
The Istanbul agreements, drawn up with Turkish mediation in 2022, set rules for large, coordinated prisoner swaps. Since then, Russia and Ukraine have traded thousands of prisoners, though exchanges have been irregular.
Umerov said technical talks would be held soon to finalise procedural and organisational details, expressing hope that returning Ukrainians could “celebrate the New Year and Christmas holidays at home — at the family table and next to their relatives.”
Ukraine’s State Emergency Service said Russian drone strikes overnight into Sunday damaged energy infrastructure in the Odesa region, including a solar power plant.
Ukraine is struggling to withstand relentless Russian aerial attacks that have caused rolling blackouts across the country as winter approaches.
The combined missile and drone strikes on the power grid have come amid Ukraine’s efforts to hold back a Russian push to capture the eastern stronghold of Pokrovsk.
Hundreds of drones launched at Ukraine
The Russian army claimed it captured two villages in southern Ukraine, where its forces are making a slow advance against smaller Ukrainian units.
The Russian Ministry of Defence said on Telegram its troops had taken control of Rivnopillia and Mala Tokmachka in the Zaporizhzhia region, after earlier this week claiming the capture of two other settlements.
Russia has launched 1,217 drone and missile attacks on Ukraine since last Sunday, according to Ukraine’s Armed Forces.
Ukraine’s air force said Russia fired 176 drones and one missile overnight, adding that Ukrainian forces shot down or neutralised 139 of the drones.
The drones, which hit 14 different locations, were sent from the directions of Kursk, Oryol, Millerovo, Primorsko-Akhtarsk and Chauda in occupied Crimea.
Energy infrastructure facilities were targeted in Odesa region, including a solar power plant where fires were quickly contained by rescuers, according to Oleh Kiper, head of the Odesa Regional Military Administration.
Zelenskyy wrote on X that recovery efforts are ongoing in the regions of Kharkiv, Odesa, Dnipro, Chernihiv and Sumy.
