Latest news with #RussianDefenceMinistry
Straits Times
10 hours ago
- Politics
- Straits Times
Russia and Ukraine swap more POWs in second exchange in two days
A still image from a video released by the Russian Defence Ministry shows what it said to be Russian service personnel captured by Ukrainian forces and released during the latest exchange of prisoners of war in the course of Russia-Ukraine conflict, as they board a bus at an unknown location in Belarus, in this image taken from handout footage released June 20, 2025. Russian Defence Ministry/Handout via REUTERS A still image from a video released by the Russian Defence Ministry shows what it said to be Russian service personnel captured by Ukrainian forces and released during the latest exchange of prisoners of war in the course of Russia-Ukraine conflict, as they pose with Russian flags in front of a bus at an unknown location in Belarus, in this image taken from handout footage released June 20, 2025. Russian Defence Ministry/Handout via REUTERS Russia and Ukraine swap more POWs in second exchange in two days MOSCOW/KYIV - Russia and Ukraine completed another round of prisoner exchanges on Friday, officials in both countries said, part of a recent agreement to swap POWs and the bodies of dead soldiers. Neither Russian nor Ukrainian officials specified how many people were involved in the exchange, the second in two days. Writing on X, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said most of his country's POWs had been held by Russia for more than two years, and had been captured across various parts of the sprawling front line. Russia's defence ministry said the Russian POWs included in the exchange were currently in Belarus, which shares borders with both warring countries. The two countries have carried out a series of swaps of captured troops and the remains of dead soldiers since renewing peace talks in Istanbul last month after a gap of more than three years. REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Russia says it struck oil refinery that supplies Ukrainian army with fuel
MOSCOW (Reuters) -Russian forces carried out an overnight strike on the Kremenchuk oil refinery that supplies fuel to Ukrainian forces in the Donbas region, Russia's defence ministry said on Sunday. President Volodymyr Zelenskiy denounced the attack on the central Poltava region as a vile strike against Ukrainian energy infrastructure. "Unfortunately, there was damage to the energy infrastructure," Zelenskiy said in his evening address to the nation. "This is Russia's (effort to) spit on everything that the international community is trying to do to stop this war." He said it occurred "after the Americans asked us not to strike at Russian energy facilities." The Russian defence ministry's statement said that missiles had been fired at the refinery in Ukraine's Poltava region from both sea and air and that strike drones were also used in what it said had been a successful attack. Russia has claimed Ukraine's eastern Donbas region as its own and controls most of its two regions, Donetsk and Luhansk. Ukraine is fighting to stop Russia from taking control of the rest of Donbas and has said it plans to retake territory it has lost, through a combination of force and diplomacy. The Russian Defence Ministry said separately that its forces had taken control of the village of Malynivka in the Donetsk region, known in Russia as Ulyanovka. It also said its forces had advanced deep into enemy defences in Ukraine's Sumy region and inflicted heavy losses on Ukrainian units there. Sumy is not one of the regions Russia has formally claimed as its own, but it has spoken of creating a buffer zone there. Zelenskiy said on Saturday that Ukrainian forces had recaptured Andriivka village in northeastern Sumy as part of a drive to expel Russian forces from the area. He said Russia has amassed 53,000 troops in the vicinity.
Reuters
6 days ago
- Politics
- Reuters
Russia says it struck oil refinery that supplies Ukrainian army with fuel
MOSCOW, June 15 (Reuters) - Russian forces carried out an overnight strike on the Kremenchuk oil refinery that supplies fuel to Ukrainian forces in the Donbas region, Russia's defence ministry said on Sunday. The ministry's statement said that missiles had been fired at the refinery in Ukraine's Poltava region from both sea and air and that strike drones were also used in what it said had been a successful attack. Reuters could not verify the battlefield report and there was no immediate Ukrainian comment on the Russian statement. Russia has claimed Ukraine's eastern Donbas region as its own and controls most of its two regions, Donetsk and Luhansk. Ukraine is fighting to stop Russia taking control of the rest of Donbas and has said it plans to retake territory it has lost through a combination of force and diplomacy. The Russian Defence Ministry said separately that its forces had taken control of the village of Malynivka in the Donetsk region, known in Russia as Ulyanovka. It also said its forces had advanced deep into enemy defences in Ukraine's Sumy region and inflicted heavy losses on Ukrainian units there. Sumy is not one of the regions Russia has formally claimed as its own, but it has spoken of creating a buffer zone there. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Saturday that Ukrainian forces had recaptured Andriivka village in northeastern Sumy as part of a drive to expel Russian forces from the area. He says Russia has amassed 53,000 troops in the vicinity.
CNA
6 days ago
- Politics
- CNA
Ukraine and Russia conduct another POW swap
KYIV: Ukraine and Russia conducted another POW swap - the fourth one in a week - the warring sides said on Saturday (Jun 14), under agreements reached in Istanbul earlier this month. "We continue to take our people out of Russian captivity. This is the fourth exchange in a week," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy wrote on social media. "In accordance with the Russian-Ukrainian agreements ... another group of Russian servicemen was returned from the territory controlled by the Kyiv regime," Russia's defence ministry said on Telegram. Kyiv also said it had received another batch of 1,200 unidentified bodies from Russia, which it said Russia claimed "belong to Ukrainian citizens, including military personnel," as part of the Istanbul agreements as well. Photos published by Zelenskyy on Telegram showed men of various ages, mostly with shaved heads, wearing camouflage and draped in Ukrainian flags. Some were injured, others disembarked from buses and hugged those welcoming them, or were seen calling someone by phone, sometimes covering their faces or smiling. Moscow's defence ministry released its own video showing men in uniforms holding Russian flags, clapping and chanting "Russia, Russia", "glory to Russia" and "hooray", some raising their fists in the air. The exchange came as Russia repeatedly rejected ceasefire calls and intensified its offensive along the front line, and especially in the northeastern Sumy region, where it seeks to establish a "buffer zone" to protect its Kursk region, previously partly occupied by Ukraine. Zelenskyy claimed Russia's advance on Sumy was stopped, adding that Kyiv's forces have managed to retake one village.
Reuters
6 days ago
- Politics
- Reuters
Russia and Ukraine exchange prisoners of war, but Moscow received no war dead, Russia says
June 14 (Reuters) - Russia and Ukraine exchanged prisoners-of-war (POWs) on Saturday, the Russian defence ministry said, and Russia handed over the bodies of 1,200 dead Ukrainian soldiers to Kyiv. The exchanges are part of agreements reached by the warring sides during talks in Istanbul earlier this month. Ukraine earlier on Saturday confirmed it had received the bodies of its soldiers killed in action. However, Russian state media reported, citing sources, that Moscow had not received any of its war dead back from Kyiv, echoing a statement Russia made on Friday, when it said it had returned the bodies of 1,200 slain Ukrainian soldiers and received none of its own. The Russian defence ministry did not say how many POWs were involved in the swap with Ukraine on Saturday, but it posted video showing its soldiers holding Russian flags and cheering before boarding a bus. The Russian soldiers are in Belarus, where they are receiving medical treatment before transfer back to Russia, the defence ministry said.
