Kyiv comes under large-scale Russian drone and missile attack with explosions heard throughout city

KYIV Ukraine AP Ukraine s capital came under a large-scale Russian drone and missile attack early Saturday with explosions and machine gun fire heard throughout the city forcing plenty of Kyiv residents to take shelter in underground subway stations The nighttime Russian attack came hours after Russia and Ukraine began a major prisoner exchange swapping hundreds of soldiers and civilians in the first phase of an exchange that was agreed on by the two sides at a meeting in Istanbul last week The agreement was a moment of cooperation in otherwise failed efforts to reach a ceasefire in the -year-old war The debris of intercepted missiles and drones fell in at least four city districts of the Ukrainian capital early Saturday acting head of Kyiv military administration Tymur Tkachenko wrote on Telegram According to Tkachenko six people required clinical care after the attack and two fires were sparked in the Solomianskyi district of Kyiv Prior to the attack city mayor Vitalii Klitschko warned Kyiv residents of more than Russian strike drones heading towards Kyiv As the attack continued he revealed drone debris fell on a shopping mall and a residential building in Obolon district of Kyiv Emergency services were headed to the site Klitschko stated The prisoner swap Friday was the first phase of a complicated deal involving the exchange of prisoners from each side President Volodymyr Zelenskyy disclosed the first phase brought home Ukrainians with further releases expected over the weekend that will make it the largest swap of the war Russia s Defense Ministry declared it received the same number from Ukraine The swap took place at the margin with Belarus in northern Ukraine according to a Ukrainian official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly The disclosed Russians were taken to Belarus for biological healing the Russian Defense Ministry declared As the freed men entered the health facility Friday people holding signs and photos of their relatives shouted names or brigade numbers seeking any news of a loved one The returning men inspected the photos and a serviceman disclosed he shared a cell with one of those on the sea of portraits held out toward him Vanya cried Nataliia Mosych among the gathered relatives My husband The exchange the latest of dozens of swaps since the war began and the biggest involving Ukrainian civilians at one time didn t herald any halt in fighting Battles continued along the roughly -kilometer -mile front line where tens of thousands of soldiers have been killed and neither country has relented in its deep strikes After the May Istanbul meeting Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan called the prisoner swap a confidence-building measure and explained the parties had agreed in principle to meet again But Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov disclosed Friday that there has been no agreement yet on the venue for the next round of talks to end the fighting as diplomatic maneuvering continued Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov revealed Friday night that Moscow would give Ukraine a draft document outlining its conditions for a sustainable long-term comprehensive peace agreement once the ongoing prisoner exchange had finished European leaders have accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of dragging his feet in peace efforts while he tries to press his larger army s battlefield initiative and capture more Ukrainian land The Istanbul meeting revealed that both sides remained far apart on key conditions for ending the fighting One such condition for Ukraine backed by its Western allies is a temporary ceasefire as a first step toward a peaceful settlement Russia s Defense Ministry announced it had shot down Ukrainian drones away from the battlefield between May and May Ukraine s air force announced Russia fired Shahed and decoy drones as well as a ballistic missile since late Thursday Follow AP s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https apnews com hub russia-ukraine