VLADIMIR Putin launched a massive blitz targeting Ukraine’s capital city Kyiv in one of the war’s heaviest airstrikes.
A minimum of 14 individuals sustained injuries when Russian forces initiated an attack with at least 250 drones and 14 missiles, marking one of the most significant aerial assaults to date.
Massive fires were seen raging in Kyiv’s skyline after the heavy blitz.
Plumes of smoke were seen billowing from civilian buildings in Ukraine’s night sky.
The air raid alert in Kyiv lasted more than seven hours overnight, warning of incoming missiles and drones.
A fire broke out in apartments on the third and fourth floors of a five-storey residential building in the Solomianskyi district.
Another fire broke out on the balconies of a nine-storey building in the Obolonskyi district, Pravada reports.
Emergency workers and Kyiv’s fire teams were seen working to rescue people from the targeted sites.
The air blitz came just hours after Russia and Ukraine began a major prisoner exchange, swapping hundreds of soldiers and civilians.
Tymur Tkachenko, the acting leader of Kyiv’s military administration, reported that intercepted missile and drone debris landed in at least four districts of the Ukrainian capital early on Saturday.
According to Tkachenko, six people required medical care after the attack, and two fires were sparked in the Solomianskyi district of Kyiv.
The State Emergency Service said: “Information on possible casualties is being confirmed.”
Kyiv’s mayor Vitalii Klitschko warned residents of more than 20 Russian strike drones heading towards the city.
As the attack continued, he said drone debris fell on a shopping mall and a residential building in the Obolon district of Kyiv.
Local resident Yurii Bondarchuk said the air raid siren started as usual, then the drones started to fly around as they constantly do.
Moments later, he heard a boom and saw shattered glass fly through the air.
The balcony was totally wiped out, as well as the windows and the doors, he said, describing the damage to his apartment.
The prisoner swap on Friday was the first phase of a complicated deal involving the exchange of 1,000 prisoners from both Russia and Ukraine.
It will be the largest prisoners and civilians swap since the start of the war.
Scenes of crying and skinny Ukrainian soldiers being returned home after imprisonment have been seen before.
Swaps have gone ahead throughout the war, with each side releasing footage of bitter-sweet reunions.
Meanwhile, President Donald Trump is optimistic that the recent exchange might be the initial move towards a peace agreement, following the first direct negotiations between Russia and Ukraine in Istanbul last week.
Hailing the swap deal, he wrote on Truth Social: “A major prisoners swap was just completed between Russia and Ukraine.
“It will go into effect shortly. Congratulations to both sides on this negotiation. This could lead to something big???”
President Volodymyr Zelensky said the first phase brought home 390 Ukrainians, with further releases expected over the weekend
Russia’s Defence Ministry said it received the same number of prisoners and civilians from Ukraine who were then taken to Belarus for medical treatment.
The swap is understood to have taken place at the border with Belarus in northern Ukraine.
