Russia and Ukraine engaged in large-scale dueling air assaults overnight Saturday, launching hundreds of drones in hourslong raids. The attacks came as both sides were carrying out the war’s largest prisoner exchange — a stark reminder that despite ongoing efforts to de-escalate the conflict, a resolution remains far off.
Russia’s attack on Ukraine was particularly significant, involving 250 long-range drones and 14 ballistic missiles, with Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital, the main target. Ukraine’s air force said it intercepted six missiles and nearly all the drones, but at least 15 people in Kyiv were injured as drones and debris from intercepted weapons crashed into apartments, setting them ablaze.
Kyiv residents were jolted awake by the booms of the city’s antiaircraft batteries trying to down incoming missiles and drones. The night sky lit up with bright streaks from climbing air defense missiles and red tracer trails from heavy machine guns. Explosions set off car alarms, adding to the cacophony of gunfire and the buzz of attack drones.
“It was a difficult night for all of Ukraine,” President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a statement Saturday morning. “With each such attack, the world becomes more certain that the cause of prolonging the war lies in Moscow,” he added, noting that Russia had repeatedly ignored Ukraine’s offers to enforce a temporary cease-fire.
Still, Ukraine has also escalated its air assaults on Russia in recent weeks. Earlier this week, it fired hundreds of drones at Russian cities, with Moscow a prime target, in one of the largest barrages of the war, forcing some airports to temporarily close.
On Saturday, Russia’s defense ministry said it had intercepted 94 Ukrainian drones overnight. In the region of Lipetsk, near the Ukrainian border, local officials reported drone crashes in an industrial zone that, according to Ukraine’s military, houses a major plant producing weapon batteries.
Together, the attacks signal an escalating cycle of air assaults. Both sides have ramped up drone production and can now launch hundreds in a single night — a feat unimaginable in the war’s first year. They also are continuously enhancing drone capabilities, boosting their range and explosive payloads.
Attacks involving swarms of drones are often designed to overwhelm the enemy’s air defenses, clearing the way for successful strikes. As on Saturday night, Russia often combines drones and missiles, sending drones first to saturate Ukraine’s skies and keep its air defense teams busy, before firing missiles that are harder to intercept.
The overnight attacks came just a few hours after both sides began a major exchange of prisoners that is expected to last until Sunday and allow 1,000 prisoners from each country to return home, which would be the biggest prisoner exchange of the war.
On Friday, a first group of 270 soldiers and 120 civilians from each side were exchanged, with many Ukrainian families traveling to northeastern Ukraine hoping to reunite with loved ones. The swap — the only concrete outcome of last week’s cease-fire talks in Turkey — has fueled cautious hope that it could build trust between the two warring sides and pave the way toward peace.
In a post on social media on Friday announcing the swap, President Trump asked, “This could lead to something big???”
But Saturday’s attacks underscored that for all the efforts toward de-escalation, the fighting remains as fierce as ever.
On Friday, Russia’s foreign minister, Sergey Lavrov, said that once the prisoner exchange was completed, Moscow would present Kyiv with a draft document outlining its conditions for a peace agreement.
But few in Kyiv believe Russia is serious about ending the war. Russian forces have resumed offensive operations in eastern Ukraine, pushing across a key highway linking Ukrainian-held cities that anchor the area’s defenses. And during last week’s talks in Turkey, Russia insisted that any cease-fire must begin with Ukraine withdrawing from territory it still holds — a nonstarter for Kyiv.
Constant Méheut reports on the war in Ukraine, including battlefield developments, attacks on civilian centers and how the war is affecting its people.
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