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At least eight people were wounded in a drone and missile attack on Kyiv Saturday, city authorities said, just as Russia and Ukraine were in the middle of a major prisoner swap.

The head of Kyiv’s civil and military administration, Tymur Tkachenko, reported fires and fallen debris in several parts of the Ukrainian capital, after AFP journalists heard explosions overnight.

At least eight people were wounded in the attack, two of whom were hospitalised, according to the city’s mayor Vitali Klitschko.

“The capital and the region are again under massive enemy attack. Air defence systems are continuously operating in Kyiv and its suburbs,” he said on Telegram.

The Russian military meanwhile said Ukraine had targeted it with 788 drones and missiles since Tuesday, 776 of which had been shot down.

The attack on Kyiv comes hours after Russia and Ukraine completed the first stage of a prisoner exchange agreed at talks last week in Istanbul which, if completed, would be the biggest swap since the start of the conflict.

Both sides received 390 people in the first stage and are expected to exchange 1,000 each in total.

Russia has signalled it will send Ukraine its terms for a peace settlement after the swap, which is set to be staggered over three days — without saying what those terms would be.

‘First stage’

The two enemies have held regular prisoner swaps since Russia launched its 2022 offensive — but none have been on this scale.

An AFP reporter saw some of the formerly captive Ukrainian soldiers arrive at a hospital in the northern Chernigiv region, emaciated but smiling and waving to crowds waiting outside.

After they stepped off the bus, tearful relatives rushed to embrace the soldiers while others held pictures of their loved ones, hoping to find out if they had been seen in captivity.

Many of the soldiers were draped in bright yellow and blue Ukrainian flags.

“The first stage of the ‘1,000-for-1,000’ exchange agreement has been carried out,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky wrote on X.

“Today — 390 people. On Saturday and Sunday, we expect the exchange to continue.”

Russia said it had received 270 Russian troops and 120 civilians, including some from parts of its Kursk region captured and held by Kyiv for months.

The two sides have not yet revealed the identities of those exchanged.

US President Donald Trump earlier congratulated the two countries for the swap.

“This could lead to something big???” he wrote on his Truth Social platform.

Trump’s efforts to broker a ceasefire in Europe’s biggest conflict since World War II have so far been unsuccessful, despite his pledge to rapidly end the fighting.

One of the soldiers formerly held captive, 58-year-old Viktor Syvak, told AFP he was delighted to be back.

Captured in the Ukrainian port city of Mariupol, he had been held for 37 months and 12 days.

“It’s very vivid. I didn’t expect such a welcome. It’s impossible to describe. I can’t put it into words. It’s very joyful,” he said.

Diplomatic push

Several Ukrainians told AFP they were anxiously waiting to see if their relatives had been included in the swap.

“We have been looking for our son for two years,” said Liudmyla Parkhomenko, a mother of a Ukrainian soldier who went missing during combat in the city of Bakhmut.

“Today I would like the Lord to send us good news… We feel in our hearts that he’s alive,” she added.

After 39 months of fighting, thousands of POWs are held in both countries.

Russia is believed to have the larger share, with the number of Ukrainian captives held by Moscow estimated to be between 8,000 and 10,000.

With Kyiv not knowing the fate of thousands, each exchange brings surprises, a senior official told AFP.

“Almost every exchange includes people no one had knowledge about,” he said.

“Sometimes they return people who were on the lists of missing persons or were considered dead.”

Diplomatic efforts to end the conflict have stepped up a gear in recent weeks, but the Kremlin has shown no sign it has walked back its maximalist demands for ending the fighting.

Trump has been seeking to broker an end to the fighting since taking office in January, but has failed to extract any major concessions from the Kremlin.

Moscow has defied European pressure for a full and unconditional truce in Ukraine, pressing on with its three-year offensive, which has left tens of thousands dead.

European countries ramped up pressure on Israel to abandon its intensified campaign in Gaza and let more aid into the war-ravaged territory, where rescuers said fresh attacks killed dozens of people on Tuesday.

Israel said that 93 trucks had entered Gaza from Israel on Tuesday but the United Nations said the aid had been held up.

The UN announced Monday that it had been cleared to send in aid for the first time since Israel imposed a total blockade on 2 March, sparking severe shortages of food and medicine.

The humanitarian crisis has prompted international anger, with the European Union saying it would review its trade cooperation deal with Israel over the blockade.

European Union foreign affairs chief Kaja Kallas said “a strong majority” of foreign ministers from the 27 member states backed the move, adding “the countries see that the situation in Gaza is untenable… and what we want is to unblock the humanitarian aid.”

Sweden said it would press the EU to level sanctions against Israeli ministers.

Britain suspended free-trade negotiations with Israel, summoned the Israeli ambassador and said it was imposing sanctions on settlers in the occupied West Bank in its toughest actions so far against Israel’s conduct of the war.

“Blocking aid, expanding the war, dismissing the concerns of your friends and partners. This is indefensible and it must stop,” Foreign Secretary David Lammy told the UK parliament.

Israel rejected the moves. The EU action “reflects a total misunderstanding of the complex reality Israel is facing,” Israeli foreign ministry spokesman Oren Marmorstein said.

Responding to Britain, Marmorstein said “external pressure will not divert Israel from its path in defending its existence and security.”

Flour, baby food, medicine

COGAT, the Israeli defense ministry body that oversees civil affairs in the Palestinian territories, said “93 UN trucks carrying humanitarian aid, including flour for bakeries, food for babies, medical equipment, and pharmaceutical drugs were transferred” to Gaza.

The spokesman for UN chief Antonio Guterres confirmed dozens of trucks were allowed in, but spoke of difficulties.

“Today, one of our teams waited several hours for the Israeli green light to … collect the nutrition supplies. Unfortunately, they were not able to bring those supplies into our warehouse,” Stephane Dujarric said.

UN humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher said that the nine trucks cleared to enter on Monday were “a drop in the ocean of what is urgently needed.”

He told the BBC Tuesday that 14,000 babies could die in the next 48 hours if aid did not reach them in time.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told a Senate Foreign Relations Committee meeting that the supplies were “not in sufficient amounts” but added: “We anticipate that those flows will increase over the next few days and weeks. It’s important that that be achieved.”

The Israeli army stepped up its offensive at the weekend, vowing to defeat Gaza’s Hamas rulers, whose 7 October 2023 attack on Israel triggered the current war.

Strikes overnight and early Tuesday left “44 dead, mostly children and women, as well as dozens of wounded,” civil defense spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP.

Bassal said 15 people were killed when a petrol station was hit near the Nuseirat refugee camp, and eight others died in a strike on a school sheltering displaced Palestinians in Gaza City.

The Israeli military told AFP it had “struck a Hamas terrorist who was operating from within a command and control center” inside the school compound. There was no comment on the other incidents.

At the bombed petrol station, Mahmoud al-Louh carried a cloth bag of body parts to a vehicle.

“They are civilians, children who were sleeping. What was their fault?” he told AFP.

In a statement Tuesday, the military said it had carried out strikes on more than “100 terror targets” in Gaza over the past day.

‘Irresponsible’ behaviour

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared Monday that Israel would “take control of all the territory of the Strip” with its new campaign.

Israel resumed operations across Gaza on 18 March, ending a two-month ceasefire amid deadlock over how to proceed.

Negotiators from Israel and Hamas began new indirect talks in Doha at the weekend, as the intensified campaign started.

Qatar, which has been involved in mediation efforts throughout the war, said Tuesday that Israel’s “irresponsible, aggressive behaviour” had undermined the chances of a ceasefire.

Hours later, Netanyahu’s office accused Hamas of refusing to accept a deal, saying Israel was recalling its senior negotiators but leaving some of its team in Doha.

A source close to Hamas alleged that Israel’s delegation “has not held any real negotiations” since Sunday, blaming “Netanyahu’s systematic policy of obstruction.”

The Hamas attack in October 2023 resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people in Israel, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.

Militants also took 251 hostages, 57 of whom remain in Gaza including 34 the military says are dead.

Gaza’s health ministry said Tuesday at least 3,427 people have been killed since Israel resumed strikes on 18 March, taking the war’s overall toll to 53,573.

US President Donald Trump unveiled new details Tuesday on his plan for a “Golden Dome” missile shield system to protect the country against attacks, saying it should be operational in about three years.

The president announced $25 billion in initial funding for the plan, which he said could eventually cost a total of some $175 billion.

“In the campaign I promised the American people I would build a cutting-edge missile defense shield,” Trump said at the White House. “Today I am pleased to announce we have officially selected architecture for this state-of-the-art system.”

“Once fully constructed, the Golden Dome will be capable of intercepting missiles even if they are launched from other sides of the world, and even if they are launched from space,” Trump said. “This is very important for the success and even survival of our country.”

He said US Space Force General Michael Guetlein will lead the effort, and that Canada has expressed interest in being part of it as “they want to have protection also.”

While Trump put the total price at $175 billion, the Congressional Budget Office has estimated the cost of space-based interceptors to defeat a limited number of intercontinental ballistic missiles at between $161 billion and $542 billion over 20 years.

Golden Dome has more expansive goals, with Trump saying it “will deploy next-generation technologies across the land, sea and space, including space-based sensors and interceptors.”

Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth, speaking alongside Trump, said the system is aimed at protecting “the homeland from cruise missiles, ballistic missiles, hypersonic missiles, drones, whether they’re conventional or nuclear.”

Russia, China oppose Golden Dome

The plan’s Golden Dome name stems from Israel’s Iron Dome air defense system that has intercepted thousands of short-range rockets and other projectiles since it went into operation in 2011.

The United States faces various missile threats from adversaries, but they differ significantly from the short-range weapons that Israel’s Iron Dome is designed to counter.

The 2022 Missile Defense Review pointed to growing threats from Russia and China.

Beijing is closing the gap with Washington when it comes to ballistic and hypersonic missile technology, while Moscow is modernising its intercontinental-range missile systems and developing advanced precision strike missiles, the document said.

It also said that the threat of drones — which have played a key role in the Ukraine war — is likely to grow, and warned of the danger of ballistic missiles from North Korea and Iran, as well as rocket and missile threats from non-state actors.

Russia and China earlier this month slammed the Golden Dome concept as “deeply destabilising,” saying it risked turning space into a “battlefield.”

It “explicitly provides for a significant strengthening of the arsenal for conducting combat operations in space,” said a statement published by the Kremlin after talks between the two sides.

The United States has gained valuable real-world experience in defending against missiles and drones in recent years.

In Ukraine, US systems have been used to counter advanced Russian missiles, while American planes and warships helped defend Israel against Iranian attacks last year and have repeatedly shot down missiles and drones launched at ships by Yemen’s Tehran-backed Huthi rebels.

Italia terra di santi, poeti, navigatori e… appassionati di serie tv. Un fatto che a fine giugno (dal 21 al 28 a Rimini e Riccione) sarà certificato da un evento di portata internazionale: l’Italian Global Series Festival. Ieri a Cannes nello spazio Italian Pavillion sono state presentate le sezioni e le nomination delle fiction in gara. Drama, Comedy, Limited Series gli ambiti nei quali saranno assegnati i Premi Maximo per Miglior titolo, Miglior attore e attrice protagonisti, Miglior creatore e/o regista.

Tra le proposte degli Showcase al Palariccione verrà presentato Sandokan, prodotto da Lux Vide con Rai Fiction, L’altro ispettore di Anele e Rai Fiction; Balene, prodotto da Fast Film con Rai Fiction e Cuori-Stagione 3, prodotto da Aurora TV con Rai Fiction. Non mancheranno anche eventi speciali a cura delle piattaforme e dei network con Mediaset che presenterà la reunion de I Cesaroni, Netflix che presenterà in anteprima le prime due puntate di Squid Game 3 e Prime che schiererà i The Jackal per presentare la seconda stagione della loro Pesci piccoli, Un’agenzia. Molte idee. Poco budget.

Ad assegnare i premi del concorso internazionale le tre le giurie: Giuria Drama, presieduta dalla regista e sceneggiatrice Cristina Comencini, la Giuria Comedy, presieduta dal regista e sceneggiatore Paolo Genovese e la Giuria Limited Series, presieduta dal regista Bille August. Non mancherà una sessione di dialoghi dove grandi registi come Marco Bellocchio, Michele Placido, Valeria Golino discuteranno con i più grandi tecnici del settore: Alberto Barbera, direttore della Mostra del Cinema di Venezia, Giulio Base, direttore del Torino Film Festival e la critica cinematografica Piera Detassis.

Premi speciali saranno assegnati a agli italiani Carlo Verdone ed Elena Sofia Ricci, al compositore Giorgio Moroder, pluripremiato agli Oscar e Evangeline Lilly, grande protagonista di serie come Lost; all’attrice britannica Adjoa Andoh della serie Bridgerton; all’attrice Jacqueline Fernandez e a Iria Del Río che ritira il premio per la serie televisiva Dieci Capodanni, serie rivelazione di RaiPlay. Un evento che, come ha sottolineato la sottosegretaria alla Cultura Lucia Borgonzoni, pone l’Italia al centro. «Le serie sono oggi uno dei linguaggi più potenti della contemporaneità, ed è fondamentale che il nostro Paese giochi un ruolo da protagonista su questo fronte, valorizzando i nostri talenti, le nostre storie, e aprendosi al mondo