Fires in Kyiv, Ukraine set by Russian missile and drone strikes, May 24, 2025 (Reuters)

Friday’s Coverage: Russia Cuts Major Projects as Oil and Gas Revenues Fall

Map: Institute for the Study of War

UPDATE 1137 GMT:

Ukraine and Russia have free 307 prisoners on each side in the second day of their 1,000-for-1,000 exchange.

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky posted:

UPDATE 1132 GMT:

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky has posted about the six hours of intense Russian missile and drone strikes on Kyiv.

We are awaiting sanctions steps from the United States, Europe, and all our partners. Only additional sanctions targeting key sectors of the Russian economy will force Moscow to cease fire.

UPDATE 1049 GMT:

Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin has called a meeting to address the decline in the country’s coal sector.

Mishustin gave no details on the gathering to discuss “development”, apart from requesting Russian Railways CEO Oleg Belozerov to prepare proposals for the transport of coal.

But speaking alongside Belozerov, head of Russian Railways (RZD), Mishustin referred to “unfavorable market conditions”.

Coal exports fell by 4% in 2023 and 8% in 2024. Projections for 2025 suggest a further 7% decline to around 185 million tons.

Last year the sector posted losses of 112.6 billion rubles (approximately $1.4 billion). Around 30 coal companies, employing 15,000 workers, are reportedly at risk of closure.

One of the bottlenecks for the industry is rail capacity. Russian Railways reported a 4.1% decline in cargo volumes in 2024, hitting a 15-year low. Labor shortages, redirection of freight to Asia, and priority for the military have worsened delays.

UPDATE 0722 GMT:

The Ukraine Air Force says Russia fired 14 ballistic missiles and more than 250 drones overnight.

Air defenses downed 128 drones, and another 117 were lost to electronic counter-measures.

Most of the attacks were on the Kyiv region but the Dnipropetrovsk, Odesa, Kharkiv, Donetsk, and Zaporizhzhia regions were also targeted.

UPDATE 0710 GMT:

The US Defense Department is downgrading a policy office which has been central to the military’s response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, according to three former US defense officials and two European officials.

As part of wider changes in the Pentagon’s policy apparatus, the Office of Russia, Ukraine and Eurasia Affairs will be placed under a separate office that handles European and NATO issues.

The office had helped convene the Ramstein Group of 50 countries that has met 27 times to raise and coordinate more than $130 billion in security assistance to Kyiv during Russia’s invasion. Around half of that has come from the US.

Multiple sources stressed that the decision is not yet final.

But Elbridge Colby, the Pentagon’s policy chief, has argued that the US should reduce its military support for Ukraine and shift resources toward Asia to deter China from invading Taiwan.

TV presenter and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said in February, during a visit to NATO headquarters, “Leaders of our European allies should take primary responsibility for defense of the continent.”

UPDATE 0657 GMT:

The toll from the overnight Russian missile and drone attacks on Kyiv has risen to 15 injured.

UPDATE 0645 GMT:

Ukraine is encouraging Donald Trump’s presence at a meeting between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Vladimir Putin.

Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha told reporters, “We are also working on…a meeting between President Zelensky and Putin. We admit that this meeting may be in an expanded format. We would very much like President Trump to join it.”

He explained that Ukraine is working on its proposal to end Moscow’s invasion but “we are waiting for the Russian side to present their vision, their concept, their proposals on the parameters of a future unconditional ceasefire”.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Russia will submit its “settlement document” after the current 1,000-for-1,000 prisoner exchange is completed.

UPDATE 0614 GMT:

Major Russian exporters are cutting back shipments of metals and oil products by rail amid a slowdown in the invasion-driven economy.

A document confirms that firms such as the aluminum producers Rusal and oil producer Gazpromneft are reducing volumes, prompting Russian Railways to slash expenditure by another 32.5 billion rubles ($408 million). That lowers the state rail monopoly’s planned investment for 2025 to 858.4 billion rubles ($10.82 billion), down around 3.5% from earlier projections.

Russian Railways had already planned to cut investment this year by 40% compared to 2024, citing the rising cost of interest payments.

Cargo volumes fell to a 15-year low in 2024. Russian Railways now expects to transport 36.7 million metric tons less than the projected 1.24 billion tons in 2025.

Steel manufacturers Severstal, MMK, TMK, NLMK, and Evraz are cutting shipments.

ORIGINAL ENTRY: Russia carried out an intense six-hour missile and drone strike on Ukraine’s capital Kyiv overnight.

At least eight people were injured in multiple waves of explosions in the Dniprovskyi and Sviatoshynskyi districts. A fire broke out in a five-story building in the Solomianskyi district, with four people suffering acute stress reactions. And in the Obolonskyi district, fire was set on the balconies of the third through sixth floors of a nine-story residential building.

In nearby Brovary, a 54-year-old man and a 50-year-old woman were injured by a Russian drone late Friday.

The first explosions in the capital were reported around 10 p.m., hours after Ukraine and Russia began their largest prisoner of war exchange during Russia’s 39-month full-scale invasion.

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky posted that each side released 390 POWs.

Ukrainian soldier Anton Kobylnyk said he could not believe he was really going home “not until I was back on Ukrainian soil”.

Kobylnyk was seized by the Russians on April 12, 2022 at the Azovmash plant, during Russia’s deadly 12-week siege of the port city of Mariupol in southeast Ukraine.

As soon as he crossed the border, he called his mother, “It’s okay, Mom, I’m home. The most important thing is that I’m in Ukraine.”