LIVE UPDATES: Russia and Ukraine exchanged more prisoners despite major strikes

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Here’s where things stand on Tuesday 10 June 2025:

• Russia and Ukraine say they exchanged captured soldiers – the second stage of an agreement struck at peace talks last week for each side to free more than 1,000 prisoners.
• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says Russia launched more than 320 drones and missiles at Kyiv and Odesa – one of the heaviest assaults of the bloody three-year war.
• At least two people were killed and several others wounded in a drone attack on the southern port city of Odesa.
• In Russia, officials say all airports serving Moscow and St Petersburg were temporarily shut down because of Ukraine’s drone strikes that did not cause any damage.

Hegseth says US military aid for Ukraine to be reduced in upcoming defence budget

That could mean Kyiv will receive fewer critical air defense systems in the future that have been key to countering a continuous onslaught of Russian missiles.

“It is a reduction in this budget,” Hegseth told lawmakers. “This administration takes a very different view of that conflict. We believe that a negotiated peaceful settlement is in the best interest of both parties and our nation’s interests, especially with all the competing interests around the globe.”

The US to date has provided Ukraine more than $66bn in aid since Russia invaded in February 2022.

Ukraine says freed troops ‘all urgently need medical care’

As images emerge of Ukrainian soldiers returning from captivity in Russia, Kyiv says “all” require medical treatment.

Following historic negotiations in Istanbul last month, about 1,200 prisoners of war (POWs) are expected to be exchanged. Footage shared by Ukrainian officials show soldiers draped in Ukrainian flags singing the national anthem and embracing each other.

In a statement shared on X, Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry emphasised “the exchanges must and will continue”.

“Today marked the first stage of returning our wounded and severely injured defenders from Russian captivity,” the ministry said.

“They all urgently need medical care. Now back in Ukraine are service members from across our defence and security forces: the Armed Forces, the National Guard, the State Border Guard Service, and the State Special Transport Service. This is only the beginning,” it added.

“We are doing everything possible to find and bring back every Ukrainian held in Russian captivity. Gratitude to everyone working to make this happen.”

Evacuations issued in Kharkiv region after heavy Russian strikes

Kharkiv Governor Oleh Syniehubov says the Defence Council of the region – located in Ukraine’s northeast – has adopted a decision on mandatory evacuation from seven villages.

In a message on Telegram, he said the decision resulted from an increase in Russian attacks, which in the past two months have killed two people and injured others.

“In total, we plan to take 181 children to safe places,” Syniehubov said, adding that all evacuees will receive temporary housing, support in obtaining displaced-person status, access to social benefits and humanitarian assistance.

Finland accuses Russia of violating its airspace

A Russian military aircraft has been accused of violating Finland’s airspace, sparking an investigation by the Finnish Border Guard, according to Minister of Defence Antti Hakkanen.

The incident comes after Finland previously alleged two Russian aircraft violated Finnish airspace on May 23 off the coast of Porvoo in the south of the country.

Russian aircraft frequently fly from bases in Kaliningrad – an enclave of one million people sandwiched between Poland and Lithuania. Finland and Russia share a 1,300km (800-mile) border farther north.

Finland joined NATO after Russia launched its war against Ukraine in February 2022.

Russia’s ability to fight depends on severity of sanctions, Merz says

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz says the question of how long Russia will be able to sustain its war on Ukraine depends in part on the severity of sanctions.

“The question of how long Russia will be able to sustain this war also depends on how effective the sanctions are,” Merz said at a news conference in Berlin, adding that this was the reason he was pushing for the US to impose more sanctions.

Earlier on Tuesday, the European Commission proposed an 18th package of sanctions against Russia for its invasion of Ukraine. It is aimed at Moscow’s energy revenues, its banks and its military industry.

The new package proposes banning transactions involving Russia’s Nord Stream gas pipelines as well as banks that engage in sanctions circumvention.

Prisoner exchanges with Russia will continue: Zelenskyy

The Ukrainian president has posted photos of prisoners of war returned as part of the exchange with Russia.

“We continue the return of our people as agreed in Istanbul. Today marks the first stage of the return of our injured and severely wounded warriors from Russian captivity. All of them require immediate medical attention,” Zelenskyy wrote.

“The exchanges are to continue. We are doing everything we can to find and return every single person who is in captivity. I am grateful to everyone who is contributing to this effort.”

Firefighters battle blazes after Russia’s attack on Kyiv

We’re at one of the many strike sites in Kyiv. It’s impossible to know whether these were direct hits or missile or suicide drone interceptions.

The building behind the scene of these craters and burned-out vehicles is on fire and has been completely destroyed. Another massive barrage – 322 drones and missiles launched by Russia into Ukraine. Its military says it managed to intercept the majority of them.

Civil defence units are saying they’ve been battling 19 fires across the city. I’m looking at cars that are shredded by shrapnel and buildings in the surrounding area as well. These attacks are increasing in intensity. Let’s not forget Ukraine is also hitting Russia hard deep inside its territory.

This is all happening against the backdrop of this second prisoner exchange – something being described as the only solid outcome following peace talks on June 2 in Istanbul after Russia refused an unconditional ceasefire.

Photos: Aftermath of Russia’s deadly attack on Odesa

Russia, Ukraine conduct prisoner swap

The Russian Defence Ministry said the second prisoner swap with Ukraine has been carried out after Monday’s exchange of POWs under the age of 25.

“On June 10, in accordance with the Russian-Ukrainian agreements reached on June 2 in Istanbul, the second group of Russian servicemen was returned from the territory controlled by the Kyiv regime,” the ministry said in a statement.

“In exchange, a group of prisoners of war of the Ukrainian Armed Forces was transferred.”

The ministry said the Russian military personnel were now in neighbouring Belarus, where they were receiving medical assistance.

It added that “all Russian servicemen will be transported to the Russian Federation for treatment and rehabilitation in medical institutions of the Russian Defence Ministry.”

Israel denies transfer of Patriot systems to Ukraine: Report

The Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs has denied the country has transferred US-made Patriot air defence systems to Ukraine, a news report says.

The ministry’s statement comes after Israeli Ambassador to Ukraine Michael Brodsky was interviewed by a Ukrainian blogger and was quoted as saying its older ground-based systems were given to Ukraine.

“Unfortunately, not much was said about this. … When people claim that Israel didn’t provide military aid [to Ukraine], that’s simply not true,” Brodsky reportedly said.

In response to a request from the Israeli website Ynet, the ministry said: “These statements are not true. Israel did not transfer Patriot systems to Ukraine.”

According to Ynet, after Brodsky’s reported comments, Russia demanded official clarification from Israel.

The Patriot is a surface-to-air guided missile system that was first deployed in the 1980s and can target aircraft, cruise missiles and shorter-range ballistic missiles.

Each Patriot battery consists of a truck-mounted launching system with eight launchers that can hold up to four missile interceptors each, a ground radar, a control station and a generator.

Ukraine’s May inflation rate at 15.9% as food prices surge

Ukraine’s consumer price inflation rose to 15.9 percent year-on-year in May, driven by increasing food prices.

Inflation has been growing quicker than initially expected this year after a smaller harvest last year. Food prices grew by 22.1 percent in May compared with the same month a year ago, the statistics service said.

The central bank kept its benchmark interest rate unchanged at 15.5 percent this month, saying inflation reached its local peak in May as prices for fresh fruits and vegetables were high after an unseasonably cold spring.

Data showed fruit prices were up by 17.6 percent in May compared with April. Overall consumer prices grew by 1.3 percent in May compared with April, the statistics service said.

The central bank expected inflation to start slowing down in the summer as the new harvest arrives.

It forecast inflation to slow to about 8.7 percent by the end of the year. The inflation rate in 2024 was 12 percent.

European Commission takes aim at Russia’s energy, military sectors in latest sanctions proposal

The European Commission has proposed an 18th package of sanctions against Russia, targeting its energy revenues and military industry.

The new package proposes banning transactions involving Russia’s Nord Stream gas pipelines as well as banks that engage in sanctions circumvention.

The commission has also proposed lowering the price cap on Russian crude oil to $45 a barrel from $60 a barrel.

The proposal lists additional vessels in Russia’s shadow fleet and oil-trading companies. EU countries will start debating the proposal this week.

Zelenskyy accuses Orban of using anti-Ukrainian propaganda for political gain

The Ukrainian president has accused Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban of engaging in anti-Ukraine policies and messaging and calls it a “historic mistake”.

In an interview with the Hungarian outlet Vlasz Online, Zelenskyy accused Orban of using propaganda against Ukraine to seek a domestic political advantage.

“He [Orban] is using Ukraine for his own electoral purposes,” the Ukrainian president said. “He does not understand that this will have much more serious and dangerous consequences. By not helping us, he is doing Putin a favour. That is why I said that Viktor is making a serious, historic mistake.”

For weeks, Orban’s government has been running a billboard campaign against aid for Ukraine and opposing its membership in the European Union. The campaign’s main message is that aid for Ukraine would drag Hungary into war and damage the economy.

The signs also feature portraits of Zelenskyy. “How can he use my face for his own election? I did not give him permission to do that,” Zelenskyy said.

If you’re just joining us

Here are the latest developments:

• Russia’s overnight attack on Kyiv has killed a woman in the Obolonsky district of the capital, according to the head of Kyiv’s municipal military administration, Timur Tkachenko.
• A maternity hospital and residential buildings in the centre of the southern Ukrainian port city of Odesa have been damaged in the overnight attack, according to Governor Oleh Kiper, while the regional prosecutor’s office says two people have been killed and nine injured in the city.
• A Ukrainian drone has attacked a petrol station in the Russian city of Belgorod, killing one person and injuring several, according to Vyacheslav Gladkov, the governor of the border region also named Belgorod.
• Four people have been injured when the Russian army attacked eight settlements in Ukraine’s Kharkiv region using missiles, precision-guided bombs and drones, according to Kharkiv Governor Oleh Syniehubov.

No end to Ukraine war without a halt to NATO expansion: Moscow

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov has told the state news agency TASS that the willingness to halt NATO’s eastward expansion is a test of whether the US is serious about improving relations with Russia.

“Practical steps are needed on the American side to eliminate the causes of the fundamental contradictions between us in the field of security,” said the deputy minister, who has responsibility for strategic armaments.

“NATO expansion is at the top of the list of these causes. Without a solution to this fundamental and acute problem, it is simply impossible to resolve the current conflict in the Euro-Atlantic area.”

The US, Ryabkov said, should show “respect for Russia’s core interests”.

Russian leaders frequently cite the expansion of the Western alliance and the possible admission of Ukraine as the reason for its war on Ukraine.

Two more civilians injured in Ukrainian attack on Russia’s Belgorod region: Governor

We reported earlier that, according to Belgorod Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov, a civilian had been killed in a Ukrainian drone attack in the Russian region.

Since then, he has said on Telegram that two civilians have been injured in two Ukrainian attacks in the region.

A civilian woman was injured in a Ukrainian drone strike on a shopping facility in the village of Proletarsky in the Rakityansky District, Gladkov said.

“The victim was taken to the Krasnoyarsk Central District Hospital with a non-penetrating shrapnel wound to the head,” he said. “The roof, glazing and facade of the building were damaged. Five vehicles were also damaged by shrapnel.”

Separately, a civilian man received multiple shrapnel wounds to the back and legs from Ukrainian shelling of Shebekino city, according to the governor.

“As a result of the shelling, one house was significantly damaged, windows were knocked out in seven private houses, roofs, facades and fences were damaged. A passenger car was cut by shrapnel and a power line was broken,” he added.

Photos: Aftermath of Russia’s overnight drone strikes on Kyiv

Russian attack damages Kyiv’s World Heritage-listed cathedral

A Russian attack overnight damaged St Sophia Cathedral in the historic centre of Kyiv, one of Ukraine’s most significant monuments and a World Heritage Site, according to Ukrainian Culture Minister Mykola Tochytskyi.

“Last night, the enemy struck at the very heart of our identity again,” he wrote on Facebook, calling the 11th-century cathedral “the soul of all Ukraine”.

“Saint Sophia Cathedral in Kyiv, a shrine which survived for centuries and symbolises the birth of our statehood, was damaged,” he said.

He added that a blast wave damaged the cornice on the main apse of the landmark. Pieces of white plaster crumbled to the ground with a gap visible in a section of the cornice, a Reuters news agency video from the scene showed.

The cathedral was added to UNESCO’s World Heritage list in 1990 for its architectural importance. The UN’s heritage body describes the white cathedral and monastery complex with green roofs and golden domes as a symbol of the “new Constantinople” style created in the region.

What is a Shahed drone?

Zelenskyy says most of the 315 drones launched at Ukraine from Russia overnight were Shaheds. Here is a bit more information about the loitering munition:

• The Shahed-136 is not designed to return but to be destroyed on impact, a guided flying bomb used by Russia as a cheap cruise missile.
• Launched in packs, these drones are designed to fly low, evading radar.
• Their low altitude and slow speed mean they can be shot down by individual soldiers, as many have been, but they can also be used against front-line positions and are more manoeuvrable than faster missiles.
• With their 40kg (88lb) warheads, the Shahed-136s, which are accurate weapons, can cause significant damage.
• Russia has been able to modify and rebrand the Iranian drones as Geran-2, to be guided by satellite positioning systems such as GLONASS, Russia’s GPS.

EU to propose new round of sanctions on Russia: Report

The European Commission is to propose lowering the Russian oil price cap and banning the use of Nord Stream gas pipeline infrastructure as part of a new round of sanctions against Moscow, according to the Financial Times newspaper.

It said this would be part of the 18th package of sanctions against Russia, and according to three people familiar with the proposal, the package will include lowering the existing oil price cap from $60 to $45 per barrel.

FT’s sources said the proposal would also include the listing of additional Russian banks and shadow fleet vessels.

Ukrainian official says lack of pressure on Russia led to ‘almost empty’ Istanbul talks: Report

A spokesperson for the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Heorhiy Tykhyi, has called for increased international pressure on Russia after the peace negotiations in Istanbul, the Interfax news agency reports.

“We urge partners not to wait for anything – to increase pressure on the Russian Federation. If this pressure had been there earlier, there could have already been results from the Istanbul meetings. Since there is no pressure, instead we see almost empty meetings,” Interfax quoted him as saying at a briefing in Kyiv.

“Apart from the humanitarian track – the exchange of prisoners – there were no other results from these meetings due to the unconstructive position of the Russian Federation,” Tykhyi is reported to have said.

At least one person killed in Ukrainian drone attack on Russia’s Belgorod: Governor

A Ukrainian drone has attacked a petrol station in the city of Belgorod, according to the governor of the Belgorod region, Vyacheslav Gladkov.

At least one civilian was killed and four injured in the attack, he said, adding that the building collapsed and a woman’s body was retrieved from under the rubble.

“Three women and a man in moderate condition were taken by ambulance crews to Belgorod City Hospital No 2. All necessary assistance is being provided,” he added.

“There is a threat of a second drone strike. Only emergency services and self-defence are working. They are blocking traffic and clearing rubble.”

At least one person killed in Russian attack on Kyiv: Military official

Russia’s overnight attack on Kyiv has killed a woman in the Obolonsky district of the capital, according to the head of Kyiv’s municipal military administration, Timur Tkachenko.

“Russian strikes are once again hitting not military targets, but the lives of ordinary people. This once again shows the true essence of what we are dealing with,” he said on Telegram.

Earlier, Russia said it targeted “Ukrainian aviation, missile, armoured vehicle and ship-building facilities in Kyiv” with a “group strike”.

Russia, Ukraine turn to long-range attacks amid ‘bloody stalemate on the ground’

Pavel Felgenhauer, a defence and Russian foreign policy analyst, tells Al Jazeera from Moscow that the memorandums published after two rounds of Istanbul talks held between Ukraine and Russia show that they are “miles apart” in their positions on how peace should be established.

“That means that there might be more meetings in Istanbul, but most likely, they will be as fruitless as the previous ones at brokering a real peace,” he said.

“So the war is actually picking up. Both sides are escalating, and since there is basically a bloody stalemate on the ground, they are using long-range attacks. We can call it the war of the cities.”

Ukraine-Russia swap sees POWs freed

Freed Ukrainian POWs – some held for more than three years – have returned home visibly weakened and traumatised. Many had lost significant weight in captivity.

Families gathered in Chernihiv to seek news about loved ones still missing. Some people believe their relatives are still alive in Russian captivity despite having no news of them for months

This is the 66th prisoner swap since Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022 with about 1,000 POWs expected to be exchanged from both sides in the latest round.

Russia has agreed to return 6,000 bodies of Ukrainian soldiers, expecting Ukraine to reciprocate. The exchange is the main outcome of recent talks in Istanbul, and it is expected to continue for several days.

Ukraine claims to have intercepted two North Korean missiles

Two North Korean missiles have been shot down by Ukrainian soldiers during a large Russian attack on Kyiv overnight, according to Foreign Ministry spokesman Georgy Tykhyi.

“According to preliminary information, the two ballistic missiles used on the capital of Ukraine tonight were KN-23 North Korean ballistic missiles. They were shot down. This is preliminary information, what we have as of now from our military,” he said at a news conference in Kyiv.

The spokesman emphasised that these actions by the Russian Federation show how closely the security of Europe and the Asia Pacific region is linked.

The Foreign Ministry emphasised that North Korea is helping Russia wage war against Ukraine and learning to conduct combat operations, improving its military capabilities.

“We call, first of all, to increase pressure not only on Moscow, but also on all its accomplices,” Tykhyi added.