Ukraine downs Russian drones and brings captured troops home from Bakhmut

• Published date: 25 May 2023
• Publication title: Irish Times: Web Edition Articles (Dublin, Ireland)

Kyiv said all 36 Iranian-made Shahed drones launched by Russia were intercepted in the early hours of Thursday, shortly after Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy appealed to the people of Iran to stop their country supplying the weapons to Moscow

"A simple question: why do you want to be accomplices in Russian terror? Why are you on the side of the evil state? The world sees what is happening, and all of you in Iran see it. Support for evil cannot be denied," he said.

"Russia is hitting everything indiscriminately. With artillery and mortars, missiles and drones - with what it has and what Russia is given on your behalf. I am sure you must be on the other side of history…Your Shaheds, which terrorise Ukraine every night, only mean that the people of Iran are being pushed deeper and deeper into the dark side of history."

'Pyrrhic victory': Russia claims Bakhmut, but at what cost?

Mr Zelenskiy's chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, said 106 Ukrainian soldiers were returning home after the latest in a series of prisoner exchanges with Russia. Moscow did not immediately announce how many of its troops had been freed in the deal.

"They fought for Bakhmut and performed a feat that prevented the enemy from advancing further into our east. Each of them is a hero of our country. Among those who are being returned from captivity, there are many who were considered missing in action. The relatives of these people went through a difficult period," Mr Yermak said.

Yevgeny Prigozhin, head of the Wagner group that has led Russia's bloody bid to take Bakhmut, said last Saturday that his fighters had fully captured the city and revealed that about 20,000 of its members had died in months of fighting.

Kyiv insists that the ruined town is still contested, and says its troops hold one part of Bakhmut and aim to advance along the flanks and encircle its Russian occupiers.

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