01:53But, and there is a big but, of course, these two releases sort of bookended what is seen as probably one of the largest attacks on the Ukrainian capital
02:06since the start of the war, 14 ballistic missiles, 250 drones overnight, 15 injured at least in Kiev.
02:15There were also attacks in the southeast, in the north, with about a dozen killed, according to Ukrainian officials,
02:25and also possibly three dead in a strike on the port city of Odessa.
02:30So you're seeing at the same time these prisoner releases, which are very significant,
02:36but also Russia sort of stepping up its aggression and its strikes on Ukraine, especially on the capital.
02:43So we're seeing them say one thing and do something else.
02:48What can we make of the sequence of events, as you were going into detail there,
02:52with these swaps and these strikes that are happening simultaneously in the context of possibly broader talks
02:59for peace negotiation between Russia and Ukraine?
03:03Well, look, some have pointed to the prisoner swaps as a reason for optimism.
03:09That was the case in Istanbul from the mediators of those talks, the Turkish officials.
03:15But also on Friday, after the first swap, Donald Trump, the U.S. president, taking to a social media platform
03:24to wonder whether this could lead to something big following that prisoner swap.
03:30But the massive strikes that I was describing overnight tell a sort of different story.
03:36And that story was what Vladimir Zelensky was pointing to in his own post, this time on X,
03:43where he was saying that basically with each attack by the Russians,
03:46the world becomes more certain that the causes of prolonging the war lie in Moscow.
03:53He called once again on the United States, on the Europeans, on other of Ukraine's supporters
03:59to step up sanctions on Russia, saying that it was basically the only way to, quote,
04:05force Moscow to a ceasefire.
04:08Right now, there is a sort of discrepancy between the reaction from Washington
04:12and the reaction from the other of Ukraine's allies.
04:16And Washington, it seems that they're still willing to give Vladimir Putin sort of the benefit of the doubt.
04:22But the European leaders especially agree with Zelensky.
04:27Back on Thursday, I was at the French Foreign Ministry, and I asked the spokesperson there
04:33what they thought of sort of the strategy of the Russian.
04:37And the response was that the language of the Russians was hypocritical
04:41and that Russia was simply pretending that it was willing to negotiate for peace,
04:46but was doing everything to sort of avoid a peaceful solution,
04:52concluding that Russia was simply playing the clock, running out the time.
04:58And when it comes to the negotiations, also, you have to see that Russia hasn't really moved
05:03from its initial maximalist demands.
05:06It hasn't—it has agreed to possible new round of talks, but that's basically it.
05:12It hasn't agreed to possibly any compromises on its initial demand.
05:17And it still, to this day, has not agreed to that unconditional 30-day ceasefire that was proposed by the United States,
05:26supported by the Europeans, and most importantly, agreed to immediately by the Ukrainians.
05:31That's right. I guess we'll have to sort of see, you know, how long Donald Trump's patience holds out on this.
05:39Thank you so much for joining us.
05:40That's France 24's Foreign Affairs Editor, Ketven Ghorcistani.
