Russia’s war losses top one million. Ukraine returns more sick and seriously wounded service members in a prisoner swap with Russia. A majority of Ukrainians have a negative view of Trump and the U.S. leadership, a poll finds.
Russia’s war losses top one million
The number of Russian troops killed or wounded in Ukraine has topped one million, according to an update posted by the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine on Thursday. Russia lost 1,140 soldiers in the past day alone.
During the full-scale phase of its war against Ukraine, Russia has lost 10,933 tanks (including six in the past day), 22,786 armored fighting vehicles (including three in the past day), 29,063 artillery systems (including 47 in the past day), 1,184 air defense systems (including one in the past day), 40,435 drones of the operational tactical level (including 138 in the past day) and 51,715 vehicles and fuel tanks (including 136 in the past day), the General Staff said.
Ukraine returns more sick, seriously wounded service members in prisoner swap with Russia
Ukraine and Russia exchanged more sick and seriously wounded prisoners of war on Thursday under an agreement reached at peace talks last week in Turkey.
Ukraine’s Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War announced the return of service members of the Armed Forces, including the Air Assault Forces, Navy, Air Force, Territorial Defense Forces and Unmanned Systems Forces as well as personnel of the State Border Guard Service and the National Guard.
Among those released are Ukrainian soldiers who defended the city of Mariupol who have spent more than three years in captivity. The returnees are soldiers and sergeants, all men.
Some of those returning home were previously thought to be missing in action.
Those released include service members seized in the Donetsk, Kherson, Kharkiv, Zaporizhzhia and Luhansk directions.
Russian and Ukrainian delegates met for a second round of direct talks in Istanbul on June 2, agreeing to swap all sick and seriously wounded captured soldiers, prisoners under the age of 25 and bodies of dead soldiers.
On Monday, Ukraine and Russia exchanged prisoners of war under the age of 25. On Tuesday, the first round of a swap of sick and seriously wounded prisoners took place. On Wednesday, there was an exchange of the remains of dead soldiers.
The Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War earlier said that due to security considerations, the exact number of those released would be announced only after the exchange process was completed.
Majority of Ukrainians have negative view of Trump, U.S. leadership, poll finds
Two-thirds of Ukrainians have a negative opinion of the U.S. leadership, while 90 per cent say they have a positive view of ordinary Americans, a survey conducted by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology between May 15 and June 3 found.
“A majority of Ukrainians — 63 per cent — continue to have a good attitude to the U.S. as a nation, while 29 per cent have a negative view of it,” Anton Hrushetskyi, executive director of the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology said in a press statement accompanying the survey results. “There is a major difference in the views depending on whether we are asking about ordinary Americans or the U.S. leadership. Some 90 per cent have a positive attitude to ordinary Americans and only 3 per cent have negative views of them. At the same time, 68 per cent have a negative opinion of the U.S. leadership and 24 per cent have positive views of it,” he continued.
Since February 2025, Ukrainians’ approval of U.S. policy on Ukraine has fallen sharply. This could be a sign of rising anti-Americanism in Ukraine, the statement reads.
The pollster draws parallels with how Ukrainians’ views of Russia changed after the invasion. Despite Russia’s aggression in Crimea and Donbas long before it started a full-scale invasion, 75 per cent of Ukrainians had positive attitudes to ordinary Russians while having a negative view of the Russian leadership (76 per cent). The views have homogenized after the full-scale invasion in 2022.
While the roles of the U.S. and Russia obviously do not compare, “standalone questions on U.S. policy cannot fully reflect Ukrainians’ views of Americans and the U.S. (and may even lead to false conclusions). That’s why we also asked how Ukrainians feel about the U.S., ordinary Americans and the U.S. leadership,” Hrushetskyi said.