Ukraine Under Air Raid Alerts As Russia Launches Drone Attacks On Kyiv

As Ukraine marks 33 years of independence on August 24, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has introduced that 115 Ukrainian prisoners have been launched in a swap with Russia.

“Another 115 of our defenders have returned residence as we speak. They are warriors from the National Guard, the Armed Forces, the Navy, and the State Border Guard Service,” Zelenskiy mentioned in a message on X.

“We bear in mind everybody. We are looking for them and making each effort to convey all of them again,” he mentioned.

Some of the launched Ukrainian prisoners spoke to RFE/RL’s Ukrainian Service from a location Ukrainian authorities requested not be disclosed.

Ihor, who offered solely his first identify, mentioned he was captured whereas serving as a conscript in National Guard Unit 3057, a part of the Ukrainian forces that defended town of Mariupol and surrendered to Russia in May 2022.

According to a Ukrainian governmental physique that oversees the remedy of prisoners of struggle, 82 of the freed Ukrainian troopers had fought in Mariupol.

“They led us out of the jail cell at 5 a.m. There have been no phrases, no clarification. They took us to the workplace and gave us our uniforms to place them on. Then they took us someplace in vehicles,” Ihor mentioned. “No one instructed us whether or not that was a easy switch to a different jail or a prisoner swap. We arrived at an air base and have been placed on a aircraft. The aircraft arrived at one other air base. More than 100 of us gathered there. Only then we understood that this was a prisoner swap.”

Andriy, one other freed soldier who gave solely his first identify, mentioned he served in the identical National Guard unit.

“I stored dreaming about it on a regular basis in captivity — that I’ll be again on August 24,” mentioned Andriy, who struggled to reply in Ukrainian as a result of he had grow to be accustomed to talking Russian whereas in captivity. “It’s a sense past description.”

Zelenskiy, referring to Russian troops who’ve been taken prisoner throughout Ukraine’s ongoing incursion into Russia’s Kursk area that began on August 6, mentioned in his put up on X that “I’m grateful to every unit that replenishes our trade fund.”

Ukraine beforehand mentioned that Russian troopers taken prisoner in Kursk could be used as an “trade fund” to launch Ukrainian troops from Russian captivity.

Separately, Russia’s Defense Ministry mentioned it obtained 115 of its personal troops, who had been captured within the Kursk area, in trade for a similar variety of Ukrainian struggle prisoners.

It mentioned the prisoner trade was mediated by the United Arab Emirates.

Zelenskiy additionally highlighted the heroic resistance of his folks within the face of Russia’s unprovoked invasion in remarks devoted to Ukraine’s Independence Day on August 24 — a day that additionally marked the somber milestone of 30 months of struggle.

“Independence is in each one among us. And united, we will win…. We withstood, restrained, and repulsed the enemy, and now we’re pushing it in its swamps. We know what independence is, how tough it’s to revive it, how tough it’s to guard. But we additionally know that every little thing is dependent upon us,” he mentioned.

No festivities or parades are scheduled, with many Ukrainians preferring to mark 33 years of independence by honoring these killed within the struggle.

Ukraine says its incursion in Russia’s border area of Kursk — which took Moscow without warning, shocked Russia’s ruling elites, and introduced greater than 1,260 sq. kilometers and 92 settlements underneath its management — is supposed to determine a buffer zone that can put an finish to Moscow’s incessant shelling of Ukrainian civilian areas and infrastructure from throughout the border.

Ukraine’s management has repeatedly clarified the transfer will not be geared toward gaining territory, in contrast to Russia’s full-scale invasion that began on February 24, 2022, precisely 2 1/2 years in the past.

“There should be a powerful border between us and the enemy, and no partitions between Ukrainians, as a result of Ukraine is in each one among us,” Zelenskiy mentioned in his message recorded symbolically within the northeastern border city of Sumy, near the place Ukrainian forces crossed into Russia on August 6.

“Those who sought to show our lands right into a buffer zone ought to now fear that their very own nation would not grow to be a buffer federation,” he mentioned. “This is how independence responds.”

Zelenskiy additionally not directly warned Russian President Vladimir Putin that his struggle was doomed to fail, saying that “the sick grandfather from the Red Square…is not going to dictate his purple traces to us.”

“How we stay, what path we observe, and what decisions we make — solely Ukraine and Ukrainians will decide these for themselves. Because that is how independence works,” he added.

As Ukraine’s incursion into Kursk continues, Russia is urgent an offensive in Ukraine’s japanese area of Donetsk geared toward capturing the regional hub of Pokrovsk.

Ukrainian troopers preventing within the east celebrated Independence Day with weapons of their palms. Some of them shared their ideas concerning the which means of independence with RFE/RL’s Ukrainian Service.

Denys, an officer with the 93rd Mechanized Brigade, mentioned his era bears a accountability to protect Ukraine’s independence for his or her kids’s future.

“The cowardice of fogeys results in their kids’s slavery. We are preventing so our kids don’t flip into slaves,” Denys mentioned.

“Freedom is when you may breathe freely with no whip above you,” Vitaliy, a soldier with the 93rd Mechanized Brigade, instructed RFE/RL.

“Right now, independence means freedom from [Russians], ending this struggle, peaceable skies above us, and saving kids from dying,” Vitaliy added.

“For me, independence is about saving our nation and never letting the struggle cross on to our kids,” mentioned Roman, an officer from the a centesimal Mechanized Brigade.

General Oleksandr Syrskiy, who was promoted from colonel basic to basic on August 24, highlighted the sacrifices of Ukrainian troopers in defending the nation’s independence in a put up on Telegram.

“We defended our independence from the primary days of struggle — after we burned enemy columns, defended Kyiv, liberated Kharkiv area, and raised our flag over Kherson and Snake Island. The struggle for our independence continues — in Pokrovsk, Toretsk, Kharkiv, and different instructions the place our troopers cease and destroy the enemy’s overwhelming power,” mentioned Syrskiy.

Russian shelling killed 5 folks and wounded 5 others on August 24 within the japanese Ukrainian metropolis of Kostyantynivka, Ukraine’s prosecutor basic mentioned.

“As a results of this enemy assault 5 residents — three males and two girls — suffered deadly accidents,” the prosecutor mentioned in an announcement.

Ukraine, whose civilian and vitality infrastructure has been battered by Russian drone strikes for years, has in flip been focusing on in current months oil and gasoline services inside Russia that work for the army.

In the latest strike, Ukrainian drones early on August 24 set an ammunition depot on fireplace within the Ostrogozhsk district of Russia’s Voronezh area.

Regional Governor Aleksandr Gusev mentioned on Telegram that the fireplace was began by falling drone particles and brought about ammunition to blow up. He mentioned there have been no casualties.

Ostrogozhsk additionally homes a coaching middle for armored automobile operators.

The Belgorod area was additionally attacked by drones at night time, Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov reported, including that two folks have been wounded.

Russia’s Defense Ministry mentioned 5 drones have been downed over Voronezh and one every over the Belgorod and Bryansk areas.

RFE/RL’s Ukrainian Service correspondent Roman Pahulych contributed to this report.