Russia and Ukraine exchanged prisoners for the first time in months on Friday, but any hopes of de-escalating the war were dashed by attacks from both sides and Moscow bragging about its gains in May.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, meanwhile, was in Stockholm to sign security deals with Sweden, Iceland and Norway, as the West maintained its support for the country it invaded in February 2022.
The meeting came as Germany said it had given Ukraine permission to use German-supplied weapons against military targets in Russia.
Seventy-five Russian soldiers “who were in mortal danger” have been sent back by Ukraine, the Ministry of Defense in Moscow said.
In return, 75 prisoners of war were handed over to the Ukrainian armed forces, Zelensky confirmed.
Both sides also exchanged the bodies of dead soldiers. Ukraine received back 212 remains and the Russian side received 45 bodies.
The last major prisoner exchange between the two sides took place in February. Just two days ago, Russian human rights commissioner Tatyana Moskalkova accused the Ukrainian side of sabotaging the exchange and said Kiev was “constantly making new demands.”
Ukraine attack on Russian oil terminal
Kiev has also been trying to counterattack Moscow for months, and a nighttime Ukrainian drone strike led to a fire breaking out at an oil terminal in Russia’s Black Sea port of Port Kavkaz, the local governor said.
“Three reservoirs of oil products are damaged and on fire,” the governor of the Krasnodar region, Veniamin Kondratyev, announced on his Telegram channel. Two employees were slightly injured, he added.
The flames were seen on the nearby Crimean Peninsula, which Russia annexed in 2014 in violation of international law.
Ukraine is increasingly attacking oil refineries and transport infrastructure in Russia, in addition to purely military targets.
At least five dead Kharkov
But Russia continued its bombing of Ukraine’s second-largest city, Kharkov. At least five people were killed and more than 20 injured in Russian rocket attacks in the northeastern city, Governor Oleh Syniehubov said in Telegram on Friday.
Most of the victims lived in a five-story apartment building. The attacks also damaged a fire truck and an ambulance, he said.
At least twenty residential buildings were damaged as a result of the five-rocket attack.
The capital Kiev was also hit by at least one cruise missile, authorities said, adding that a car repair shop, a car wash and half a dozen vehicles were damaged by falling rocket debris.
A transformer station was damaged, energy company DTEK said, but power supply has now been restored. There were no casualties.
In total, Russian forces captured 28 Ukrainian towns and villages in May as part of a renewed attack, Defense Minister Andrei Belousov said.
“The enemy has withdrawn 8 to 9 kilometers in several important parts of the Kharkov region,” Belousov said at a meeting of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), a Moscow-dominated military alliance, in the Kazakh city of Almaty.
He added that Russia has captured 880 square kilometers of Ukrainian territory since the beginning of the year. This figure cannot be independently verified.
Belousov said the Ukrainian army’s losses in May totaled 35,000 soldiers and 2,700 units of military equipment – figures that could also not be verified. The defense minister did not comment on Russia’s losses but reiterated the Kremlin’s mantra that Moscow would achieve its war aims.
Zelenskiy signs security agreements in Stockholm
With war still not in sight, Zelenskiy flew to Stockholm for the third Ukraine-Northern Europe summit, where the treaties with Iceland, Norway and Sweden were signed.
“Only together can we stop the madness from Moscow,” he said.
The agreements initially have a validity of 10 years. Ukraine has already signed similar security agreements with Denmark and Finland.
Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said: “The agreement is a strong signal to Russia that it is basically pointless to continue the war on the assumption that Western countries will grow tired.”
Kristersson described supporting Ukraine in its fight against Russia as a “fundamental, existential task” for the countries of Northern Europe, whose security is also threatened by Russia’s actions.
