Ukraine and Russia exchange prisoners as Kyiv counts 24 dead in apartment block strike

Russia and Ukraine have exchanged 205 prisoners of war, hours after rescue workers finished searching a destroyed apartment block in Kyiv where 24 people were killed in a Russian strike.

President Volodymyr Zelensky said most of the Ukrainian prisoners had been held since 2022.

The exchange took place on Friday and came as Kyiv marked a day of mourning for those killed in the attack.

The strike hit a nine-storey residential building in the Darnytskyi district of south-east Kyiv, where rescue services spent 28 hours searching the rubble.

Among the dead were three girls, including 12-year-old Lyubava Yakovleva, and several adults identified by local reports and officials.

The developments underline the continuing human cost of the war as both sides remain under pressure over attacks on civilian areas and the treatment of prisoners.

The prisoner swap was part of a short-lived ceasefire that ended this week with renewed Russian strikes across Ukraine.

Zelensky said the building had been practically levelled by a Russian X-101 cruise missile.

He also visited the scene and said pressure had to be brought to bear on Russia, which he accused of deliberately destroying lives.

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