Russia and Ukraine exchanged prisoners of war on Sunday, marking the shared Orthodox Easter holiday with a rare moment of goodwill, authorities said.
Despite the gesture, Russian forces attacked Orthodox churches in the south and east of Ukraine, wounding at least two civilians, authorities said. Residents scrambled to save icons from the rubble.
“The Russians have once again confirmed that they hold nothing sacred,” said Serhii Lysak, governor of the Dnipropetrovsk region where Russian military shelled a church near the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.
In the prisoner exchange, 130 Ukrainian soldiers, sailors, border guards and others captured by Russia were released, according to Ukrainian presidential adviser Andriy Yermak.
Among those released were Ukrainian troops who fought near Bakhmut, an eastern mining city that has been the site of the war’s longest battle, Yermak said in a Telegram post.
The Russians have waged a campaign of more than eight months to seize Bakhmut, looking for a victory after major military setbacks earlier in the war.
Yermak said Ukraine intends to bring all of the POWs back home.
“The lives of our people are the highest value for us,” he said.
The number of Russian prisoners released was not immediately known. The Wagner Group, the commercial paramilitary force fighting for Russia, released a video showing Ukrainian prisoners of war readying for an exchange.
In an Easter address, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the holy day represented “the victory of good, the victory of truth, the victory of life,” and he celebrated the unified resilience of the Ukrainian spirit.
“Belief in victory unites all of us always, and especially today,” he said. “We are one big family — Ukrainians. We have one big home — Ukraine. We have one big goal — victory for all.”
But the traditions of the religious holiday were cramped by the conflict. Customary all-night services could not be held due to curfews, and the rites were streamed online instead.
Turnout at typically crowded churches was light after Ukraine’s main security service last week urged residents not to linger in order to minimize security risks.
In central Kyiv, people gathered in the courtyard of the St. Michael’s Golden-Domed Monastery for priests to bless their baskets of colored eggs and Easter cakes.
One of them was Alla Voronina, who said the restrictions were “very hard” on local morale.
“You constantly recall how it used to be before the war,” she said, adding that her family intended to comply with the security guidelines and head home quickly.
Another worshipper, Tetiana Voloshyna, said she went to the landmark monastery despite the risks to pray for “victory, peace and life” and for the troops “who defend us and make it possible for us to have this holiday.”
In Moscow, Russian President Vladimir Putin attended midnight services at Christ the Savior Cathedral led by the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill, a staunch supporter of the invasion.
Kirill, in a video broadcast on Russian state television Saturday, spoke of “grave events taking place on our Russian historical land,” a reference to the view of many war supporters that Ukraine is not independent but belongs to Russia.
Looking to stock up for an expected spring counter-offensive to retake Russian-occupied areas, Ukraine is awaiting delivery of the Patriot air defense system from the U.S. sometime soon, a Ukrainian air force spokesman said.
Several dozen Ukrainian soldiers completed training last month at the U.S. Army’s Fort Sill in Oklahoma on using the defensive missile system to shoot down enemy aircraft.
Germany and the Netherlands also have pledged to provide Patriot systems to Ukraine, and France and Italy will be providing a separate anti-missile system in the near future, the air force spokesman said.
In a sign that Russia may be preparing for a drawn-out conflict, Putin signed a law on Friday that allows military offices to send draft notices electronically rather than in person.
The U.K. Defense Ministry said in an assessment that the new system allows Russia to build a unified registry of those eligible for military service and “punish draft-dodgers by automatically limiting employment rights and restricting foreign travel.”
As the law does not take effect until later this year, British intelligence said it could be part of a “longer-term approach to provide personnel as Russia anticipates a lengthy conflict in Ukraine.”