Ukraine and Russia on Tuesday exchanged one of the largest prisoner exchanges since war broke out over three years ago, as fighting continued on several front lines.
A total of 205 Ukrainian soldiers who were being held in Russian captivity were exchanged for the same number of Russian prisoners of war in Ukraine, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy wrote on Telegram.
"Our people are free. Our people are home," he wrote.
Zelenskyy did not provide details about the Russian prisoners. Earlier, the Russian Defense Ministry stated that 205 individuals were exchanged on each side.
The swap was facilitated by the United Arab Emirates and took place at the Belarusian-Ukrainian border.
According to the Kiev-based staff responsible for prisoner-of-war matters, this was the 64th exchange since the war began. So far, over 4,700 Ukrainians have been freed from Russian captivity through such exchanges.
Among those freed were three Ukrainian officers and 202 soldiers and sergeants, according to reports.
The freed Ukrainian soldiers, many of whom defended key areas such as Mariupol and the front lines, are now back in Ukraine after months in captivity.
Meanwhile, one man was killed and another injured in a Russian airstrike on civilian infrastructure in the southern region of Odessa, the regional prosecutor's office said on Tuesday, shortly before the start of a 72-hour ceasefire ordered by the Kremlin.
Two people were also injured in a massive drone attack on the city of Kharkiv, Mayor Ihor Terekhov said.
Some 200 battles were recorded in Ukraine over the last day, the Kiev General Staff wrote on Facebook early on Tuesday.
It said particularly heavy fighting occurred in the area around the city of Pokrovsk in the Donetsk region, where defenders had repelled 78 attacks by the Russian army.
The information provided by the warring parties cannot be independently verified, but gives an idea about the extent of the fighting.
The Russian Ministry of Defense said 105 Ukrainian drones were shot down over 11 Russian regions during the night - 19 of them over the Moscow region.
Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said debris from a drone fell onto a motorway, but so far there have been no reports of serious damage or injuries.
Authorities reported that Ukrainian drones had been intercepted over the Voronezh and Penza regions. Initially, no damage or injuries were reported from there either.
For safety reasons, air traffic at Moscow's four airports, Sheremetyevo, Domodedovo, Vnukovo and Zhukovsky, was temporarily suspended, according to the Russian news agency TASS, which cited aviation authority Rosaviatsiya.
Additionally, air traffic was also temporarily suspended at airports in Kaluga, some 200 kilometers south-west of Moscow, Saratov, some 850 kilometers south-east of the capital, and Volgograd, some 1,000 kilometers south-east of Moscow.
The information cannot be independently verified.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has declared a unilateral ceasefire to coincide with Russia's anniversary commemorations of the Soviet victory over Nazi Germany on May 9, which are to be attended by several foreign dignitaries.
The cease-fire is scheduled to run from midnight Wednesday-Thursday in Moscow to midnight Saturday-Sunday (2100 GMT Wednesday-2100 GMT Saturday).
Kyiv has rejected the limited pause and demanded that the ceasefire be extended to 30 days. "The Russians are asking for a ceasefire on May 9 and are themselves firing at Ukraine every day. This is cynicism of the highest order," Zelenskyy wrote on Telegram on Sunday.
Ukraine has been defending itself against a full-scale Russian invasion for more than three years. As part of its defensive campaign, it has also been attacking targets in Russia, resulting in deaths and injuries.
The casualties and damage are dwarfed by the devastating consequences of the conflict on the Ukrainian side.
