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Zelenskyy Says Ukraine is Working on Prisoner Exchange with Russia

In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Presidential Press Office, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, right, holds a meeting with servicemen near the frontline city of Pokrovsk, Donetsk region, Ukraine, Tuesday, Nov. 4, 2025. (Ukrainian Presidential Press Office via AP)
In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Presidential Press Office, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, right, holds a meeting with servicemen near the frontline city of Pokrovsk, Donetsk region, Ukraine, Tuesday, Nov. 4, 2025. (Ukrainian Presidential Press Office via AP)
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Zelenskyy Says Ukraine is Working on Prisoner Exchange with Russia

In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Presidential Press Office, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, right, holds a meeting with servicemen near the frontline city of Pokrovsk, Donetsk region, Ukraine, Tuesday, Nov. 4, 2025. (Ukrainian Presidential Press Office via AP)
In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Presidential Press Office, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, right, holds a meeting with servicemen near the frontline city of Pokrovsk, Donetsk region, Ukraine, Tuesday, Nov. 4, 2025. (Ukrainian Presidential Press Office via AP)

Ukraine is working to resume prisoner exchanges with Russia that could bring home 1,200 Ukrainian prisoners, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Sunday, a day after his national security chief announced progress in negotiations.

“We are ... counting on the resumption of POW exchanges,” Zelenskyy wrote on X, according to The Associated Press. “Many meetings, negotiations and calls are currently taking place to ensure this.”

Rustem Umerov, Secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council, said Saturday he held consultations mediated by Türkiye and the United Arab Emirates on resuming exchanges.

He said the parties agreed to activate prisoner exchange agreements brokered in Istanbul to release 1,200 Ukrainians. Moscow did not immediately comment on the claim.

The Istanbul agreements refer to prisoner-exchange protocols established with Turkish mediation in 2022 that set rules for large, coordinated swaps. Since then, Russia and Ukraine have traded thousands of prisoners, though exchanges have been sporadic.

Umerov said technical consultations would be held soon to finalize procedural and organizational details, expressing hope that returning Ukrainians could “celebrate the New Year and Christmas holidays at home — at the family table and next to their relatives.”

In other developments, energy infrastructure was damaged by Russian drone strikes overnight into Sunday in Ukraine’s Odesa region, Ukraine’s State Emergency Service said. A solar power plant was among the damaged sites.

Ukraine is desperately trying to fend off relentless Russian aerial attacks that have brought rolling blackouts across Ukraine on the brink of winter.

Combined missile and drone strikes on the power grid have coincided with Ukraine’s efforts to hold back a Russian battlefield push aimed at capturing the eastern stronghold of Pokrovsk.

Russia fired a total of 176 drones and one missile overnight, Ukraine's air force said Sunday, adding that Ukrainian forces shot down or neutralized 139 drones.

Russia’s defense ministry said Sunday that its forces shot down 57 Ukrainian drones overnight.

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World

French, Japanese Ships Cross Strait of Hormuz in First Since War

A cargo ship in the Gulf, near the Strait of Hormuz, as seen from northern Ras al-Khaimah, near the border with Oman’s Musandam governance, amid the US-Israeli conflict with Iran, in United Arab Emirates, March 11, 2026. (Reuters)
A cargo ship in the Gulf, near the Strait of Hormuz, as seen from northern Ras al-Khaimah, near the border with Oman’s Musandam governance, amid the US-Israeli conflict with Iran, in United Arab Emirates, March 11, 2026. (Reuters)
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French, Japanese Ships Cross Strait of Hormuz in First Since War

A cargo ship in the Gulf, near the Strait of Hormuz, as seen from northern Ras al-Khaimah, near the border with Oman’s Musandam governance, amid the US-Israeli conflict with Iran, in United Arab Emirates, March 11, 2026. (Reuters)
A cargo ship in the Gulf, near the Strait of Hormuz, as seen from northern Ras al-Khaimah, near the border with Oman’s Musandam governance, amid the US-Israeli conflict with Iran, in United Arab Emirates, March 11, 2026. (Reuters)

One French- and another Japanese-owned vessel are among a handful of vessels to have crossed the war-torn Strait of Hormuz, maritime tracking data showed Friday.

The passage, a vital maritime route for oil and liquified natural gas, has been virtually blocked by Iran since the start of the war, said AFP.

But both ships made the crossing on Thursday, according to ship tracking company Marine Traffic's website.

The Maltese-flagged Kribi belonging to the French maritime transport group CMA CGM crossed the waterway to leave the Gulf on Thursday afternoon, Marine Traffic's data showed.

By early Friday, it was off Muscat, Oman, still broadcasting the message "owner France" on its transponder system in the field usually used to give the destination.

The vessel's navigation data showed it had crossed via an Iranian-approved route through its waters, dubbed the "Tehran Toll Booth" by leading shipping journal Lloyd's List.

- Southern route -

In addition, three tankers -- including one co-owned by a Japanese company -- crossed the Strait of Hormuz on Thursday by taking an alternative, southern route.

They hugged close to the shore of Oman's Musandam Peninsula -- a first in nearly three weeks according to Lloyd's List.

Before the war, which started more than a month ago, about a fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas (LNG) passed through the Strait.

All three ships signaled they were an "OMANI SHIP" in the message broadcast by their transponder as they crossed the strait.

The Sohar LNG, which was empty when crossing, is co-owned by Japanese shipping company Mitsui O.S.K.

That makes it the first Japanese vessel to exit the Gulf since the start of the war, according to a company statement quoted by Japanese media.

The Hong-Kong flagged New Vision, which crossed the strait on March 1 right after the war started, is expected in the French port of Le Havre on Saturday evening.

Since the conflict started however, that has dwindled to a trickle as Iran selectively attacks ships and energy facilities throughout the Gulf in retaliation for US and Israeli attacks.

A few commercial ships crossing the Strait of Hormuz recently have passed through the Iranian-approved route in the north of the waterway.

- Down to a trickle -

Just 221 commodities vessels have crossed the Strait of Hormuz since March 1, some more than once, according to Kpler data up to Friday morning.

In peacetime, the same waterway handles around 120 daily transits, according to Lloyd's List.

Of the vessels that made the crossing, 60 percent either came from Iran or were heading there.

It was not clear from the data how many had been cleared to make the crossing by Tehran.

But it did show that, among the 118 crossings by ships carrying cargo, 37 had left the Gulf carrying crude oil.

Most of those oil tankers -- 30 of them -- came from Iran or sailed under the Iranian flag. And most ships carrying Iranian oil did not specify their destination on their transponder.

Of those who did, all but one reported they were heading to China.

In the early days of the war, transponder data showed dozens of ships broadcasting messages such as "Chinese crew" or "Chinese owner" in the field usually used for their destination.

This appeared to be an attempt by the ships to avoid being targeted by Iran.

World

Iran Executes Two Linked to Opposition Group

Executions in Iran have surged in recent years - AFP
Executions in Iran have surged in recent years - AFP
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Iran Executes Two Linked to Opposition Group

Executions in Iran have surged in recent years - AFP
Executions in Iran have surged in recent years - AFP

Iran on Saturday executed two men it said were convicted of links to an opposition group, the People's Mojahedin Organization of ‌Iran, and ‌of carrying out armed ‌attacks, ⁠domestic media reported.

The ⁠executions were the latest in recent days of individuals with PMOI links.

The PMOI confirmed ⁠Saturday's executions, saying ‌in ‌a statement that Iran was "trying ‌to hide its ‌weakness by executing political prisoners, especially PMOI members and supporters." Four PMOI ‌members were executed earlier this week, ⁠it ⁠said.

The group said the two men executed on Saturday were arrested in January 2024 and had their death sentences upheld in December 2025.

World

Earthquake Kills 8 Members of Same Family near Afghan Capital

Previous earthquake in Afghanistan (Archive-Reuters)
Previous earthquake in Afghanistan (Archive-Reuters)
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Earthquake Kills 8 Members of Same Family near Afghan Capital

Previous earthquake in Afghanistan (Archive-Reuters)
Previous earthquake in Afghanistan (Archive-Reuters)

An earthquake that struck Afghanistan overnight killed eight members of the same family in Kabul province, the health ministry said on Saturday.

The 5.8-magnitude quake struck at 8.42 pm (1612 GMT) on Friday at a depth of 186 kilometers (115 miles) at the epicenter in northeastern Badakhshan province, according to the US Geological Survey (USGS).

Shaking was felt in multiple parts of the country, including the capital Kabul, according to AFP journalists.

"In the Gosfand Dara area of Kabul Province, eight members of a family died as a result of the earthquake," Health Ministry spokesman Sharafat Zaman said in a message to media.

He added that a child aged around two years old was the only survivor from the household and the country's disaster management agency said the boy had been injured in the tremor.

Afghanistan is frequently jolted by earthquakes, particularly along the Hindu Kush mountain range near where the Eurasian and Indian tectonic plates meet.

In August, a shallow magnitude 6 earthquake wiped out mountainside villages and killed more than 2,200 people in eastern Afghanistan, making it the deadliest tremor in the country's recent history.