Russia-Ukraine updates: Putin says war was ‘unleashed’ on Russia

The Russian president delivered his annual Victory Day speech.

More than a year after Russian President Vladimir Putin launched a full-scale invasion of neighboring Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022, the countries are fighting for control of areas in eastern and southern Ukraine.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's forces are readying a spring counteroffensive, but Putin appears to be preparing for a long and bloody war.

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Russia and Ukraine exchange prisoners of war

Russia and Ukraine exchanged over 200 prisoners of war on Tuesday, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Interfax, a Russian news agency.

During his daily evening address, Zelenskyy said 130 Ukrainians were "brought home from Russian captivity," including privates and sergeants from the army, navy and national guard.

"Just as we remember every corner of our country that is under occupation, we remember every single person in Russian captivity," he said.

Ninety Russians were released from the Ukrainian side back to Russia, though Russia said Ukraine originally agreed to release 160 Russians, Interfax reported.

"During the exchange of prisoners of war on Tuesday, the Ukrainian side agreed to return only 90 Russians, despite an earlier agreement on the exchange of '160 for 160,'" Tatyana Moskalkova, human rights ombudsman for the Russian Federation said, according to Interfax.

-ABC News' Ellie Kaufman


Up to 30,000 Russian casualties in Bakhmut: Western officials

Up to 30,000 Russian soldiers have been killed or injured in Bakhmut over the last several months amid intense fighting in the eastern Ukrainian city, Western officials said in a briefing Tuesday.

The ratio of dead to injured was "unclear," said the officials, who described Ukraine’s refusal to withdraw from the city -- even though its forces are surrounded on three sides -- as "a sound tactic" given that "lots of Russians are being killed."

"What we're seeing is a horrific level of Russian casualties for minimal gains," they said, noting that an estimated 200,000 Russian soldiers have been killed or wounded overall since the war began.

In the past 24 hours, 244 Russian troops were killed and 315 wounded in Bakhmut, Serhiy Chevrevaty, a spokesman for Ukraine's eastern group of forces, said during a national telethon on Tuesday.

The officials refused to say how many Ukrainians have been killed or injured in and around Bakhmut but claimed it was "significantly lower."

They also were unable to put a clear time frame on when a Ukrainian withdrawal might come, though noted the possibility of a Ukrainian counteroffensive should not be ruled out.

-ABC News' Tom Soufi Burridge


13 found dead after strike hits Zhaporizhzhia

Thirteen people have been found dead since a rocket struck an apartment building in Zhaporizhzhia, Ukraine, authorities said.

The governor there has called for a national day of mourning on Monday.

The State Emergency Situation of Ukraine in Zaporizhzhia initially posted on their Telegram account Friday that seven people were dead.

So far, 11 people have been saved, and 20 people were able to evacuate the building.

-ABC News' Ellie Kaufman


Merrick Garland makes unannounced visit to Ukraine

U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland made an unannounced visit to Ukraine on Friday at the invitation of the Ukrainian prosecutor general to join Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and other international partners at the United for Justice Conference.

Garland attended several meetings while he was there.

-ABC News' Alexander Mallin


St. Petersburg bomb attack kills pro-war blogger

A top Russian pro-war blogger has been killed in a bomb attack on a cafe in Russia, according to police.

The explosion on Sunday tore through a cafe in St. Petersburg, killing Vladlen Tatarsky, one of the best-known of the Russian military bloggers who have become influential during the war in Ukraine.

At least 30 other people were injured in the blast, according to the Ministry of Health. Video circulating online appeared to capture the aftermath, showing bloodied people emerging from the heavily damaged cafe.

The Russian Interior Ministry said an explosion has occurred in a cafe on the city's Universitetskaya Embankment.

"One person was killed in the incident, it was military correspondent Vladlen Tatarsky, the Russian Interior Ministry press center told reporters on Sunday.

Denis Pushilin, acting head of the Russian-backed Donetsk People’s Republic, issued a statement describing Tatarsky as "a great patriot" of the Donbass region of eastern Ukraine and Russia. Pushilin blamed the attack on the Kyiv regime, calling it a terrorist regime.

"A man with a difficult fate, Vladlen earned the respect of his comrades-in-arms because he lived and worked for the sake of truth and justice, for the sake of victory," Pushilin said of Tatarsky. "He managed to fight, and in the status of a military correspondent to make his contribution."

Pushilin said Tatarsky was to be awarded a medal "for the liberation of Mariupol" in eastern Ukraine.

It was the most serious bomb attack on a pro-war Russian figure inside Russia since the high-profile assassination of the Daria Dugina, the daughter of the ultra-nationalist Alexander Dugina, who was killed in a car bombing last year.

Tatarsky was a Russian ultra-nationalist and one of the best-known military bloggers, who strongly supported the war in Ukraine. He had also criticized the execution of the war by Russia’s military command.

Tatarsky had become a significant source of information for how the war was being fought on the Russian side.

His killing will likely set off speculation on whether Ukraine or Russia was behind his killing, similar to the Dugina episode.

In the Dugina case, U.S. intelligence sources eventually told The New York Times that Ukraine was behind the attack.

-News Patrick Reevell