Russian strikes on Odesa kill 2 ahead of Orthodox Easter ceasefire as prisoner swap takes place
kyiv, Ukraine — Russian drone strikes killed at least two people in the Ukrainian city of Odessa overnight Saturday, local authorities reported, ahead of a planned Orthodox Easter ceasefire.
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Two other people were injured in the attack on the Black Sea port city, when drones struck a residential area, damaging apartment buildings, houses and a kindergarten.
According to the Ukrainian Air Force, Russia targeted Ukraine with 160 drones overnight, 133 of which were shot down or intercepted, hours before the proposed Easter ceasefire took effect.
The Russian Defense Ministry said 99 Ukrainian drones were shot down overnight across Russia and occupied Crimea.
Russian President Vladimir Putin declared a 32-hour ceasefire on Thursday over the Orthodox Easter weekend, ordering Russian forces to cease hostilities from 4 p.m. Saturday until the end of Sunday.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky vowed Saturday to respect the ceasefire, describing it as an opportunity to build on peace initiatives. But he warned that a military response would be swift to any violations.
“Easter should be a period of silence and security. A ceasefire (on) Easter could also become the start of a real movement towards peace,” Zelenskyy wrote in an online message on Saturday.
But he added: “We all understand who we are dealing with. Ukraine will respect the ceasefire and respond strictly in the same way.”
Ukraine had previously proposed to Russia to suspend its attacks on the other country’s energy infrastructure to mark the Orthodox holiday of Easter.
Previous ceasefire attempts have had little impact, with both sides accusing each other of violations.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Friday called Putin’s move a “humanitarian” gesture but said Moscow remained focused on a comprehensive settlement based on its long-standing demands – a key sticking point that has prevented the two sides from reaching an agreement.
Prisoners exchanged
The Russian Defense Ministry said a prisoner exchange brought 175 of its soldiers home on Saturday.
Zelensky confirmed Saturday’s exchange, saying 175 military personnel and seven civilians had been repatriated.
“Most had been held in captivity since 2022. And finally, they are home,” he wrote on X.
At the exchange site in northern Ukraine, Svitlana Pohosyan was waiting for her son to return. Asked about the ceasefire, she replied: “I want to believe in it. God willing, so be it. We will believe and hope that everything will be fine, that a ceasefire will come on such a holy day and there will be peace – peace in Ukraine and peace in the whole world.”
“My party will be when my son returns,” she added. “I will hold him in my arms – and it will be the biggest celebration for me. And for every mother, every family.”
The periodic prisoner exchanges were one of the few positive outcomes of months-long unsuccessful negotiations between Moscow and kyiv, brokered by the United States. The talks have produced no progress on key issues preventing an end to Russia’s invasion of its neighbor, now in its fifth year.
Separately, seven residents of Russia’s Kursk region returned from Ukraine on Saturday after being captured by the Ukrainian army, Russian state media reported. They were welcomed at the Belarusian-Ukrainian border by Russian human rights ombudsman Tatiana Moskalkova.
According to Moskalkova, the returnees were the last of those taken to Ukraine from the Kursk region after the Ukrainian military took control of parts of the region in 2024.
Ukrainian forces carried out a surprise incursion into Kursk in August 2024, marking one of their biggest battlefield successes of the war. The incursion was the first time Russian territory had been occupied by an invader since World War II and dealt a humiliating blow to the Kremlin.
