The first direct Ukraine-Russia talks did not deliver a ceasefire but it did result in the largest prisoner swap of the war. CHERNIHIV REGION, Ukraine — For hours Friday, a crowd of hopefuls stood on the roadside wrapped in blue-and-yellow flags and clutching photos of captured Ukrainian soldiers — their eyes peeled for any sign of buses.

The announcement was made ahead of an expected prisoner exchange between Ukraine and Russia on Friday – an outcome of last week’s face-to-face talks in Turkey, the first time the two countries have held direct talks at any level in three years.

A Kremlin spokesman says Russia and Ukraine have no scheduled direct peace talks. The statement Thursday came nearly a week after their first face-to-face meeting since the early weeks of Moscow's invasion in 2022 and days after U.

Ukraine and Russia began a major prisoner exchange on Friday, which if completed would be the biggest swap since Moscow invaded

MOSCOW (Reuters) -Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Friday that Moscow would not allow Russian-speakers in Ukraine to remain under the rule of what he called a "junta" led by President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.

The U.S. National Security Agency says hackers working for Russian military intelligence tried to access the systems of Western technology and logistics companies involved in shipping assistance to Ukraine.

The White House has said president Donald Trump “believes” Vladimir Putin is winning the war with Ukraine.The statement follows a Wall Street Journal that Mr Trump told European leaders after a phone call with Mr Putin that the Russian president is not ready to end the war.

For three years, two months and 19 days, Ellia Derektorenko waited in agony for any word from her husband, Andrii, a captured Ukrainian soldier. She received only one letter, in 2022, confirming that he was alive and in a Russian prison.