Russia and Ukraine both claimed to hit each other's key military targets on Friday, including military enterprises, energy infrastructure and command posts, as the conflict between them continues.
The Russian defense ministry on Friday said that in the past week, Russian forces gained control of six settlements and targeted Ukrainian military industrial facilities, energy infrastructure, and air defense radar stations.
Russian air defense units intercepted and shot down Ukrainian aerial bombs, HIMARS rockets, and over 1,000 fixed-wing drones.
On the same day, the General Staff of Ukraine's Armed Forces reported that more than 170 battles took place in the frontline areas over the past day.
The Ukrainian forces targeted Russian command posts, as well as missile and artillery facilities, according to the report.
Russia and Ukraine carried out another prisoner swap on Friday, said the Russian defense ministry.
In accordance with the Russian-Ukrainian agreements reached on June 2 in Istanbul, a group of Russian military personnel was returned from the territory controlled by Ukraine on June 20, the ministry said, not giving the number of released prisoners.
In return, a group of prisoners of war of the Armed Forces of Ukraine was transferred, it added.
All Russian military personnel will be transported to Russia for treatment and rehabilitation in medical institutions of the Russian defense ministry, it added.
Ukraine's Coordinating Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War said that the returned captives include sergeants and soldiers from the Ukrainian Navy, Land Forces, Territorial Defense, Airborne Forces and other units.
All released servicemen will receive medical examination, treatment and rehabilitation at medical facilities, the headquarters said.
During their latest round of talks in Türkiye's Istanbul, Russia and Ukraine agreed on an "all-for-all" exchange involving seriously ill and wounded prisoners, as well as soldiers under the age of 25.
Russia, Ukraine continue to exchange attacks
China's winter wheat harvest has surpassed the 40 percent mark, with 143 million mu (about 9.53 million hectares) already collected, as authorities intensify emergency machinery deployment to secure bumper harvests, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs on Wednesday.
Harvesting in the southwest and central China's Hubei Province has already concluded. The Huang-Huai-Hai main production region has now entered its peak harvest period, with mechanical harvesting exceeding 20 million mu (about 1.33 million hectares) on two consecutive days.
In Henan Province, 4 million sets of agricultural machinery have been mobilized to ensure timely wheat collection and prevent delays in summer planting.
In east China's Anhui Province, 792 emergency harvesting teams have been coordinated to form a preliminary one-hour emergency response network across the province.
More than 60 million mu (about 4 million hectares) of winter wheat in east China's Shandong Province is gradually maturing. Although over 80 percent of the local wheat was sown late last autumn due to autumn flooding, resulting in poor seedling conditions, timely field management has produced better-than-expected growth, and a bumper harvest is now in sight.
In Tancheng County, the area has been divided into 13 operational zones for staggered harvesting, ensuring all 680,000 mu (about 45,333 hectares) of wheat is collected within the optimal harvest window.
"This year, our county has mobilized over 11,000 sets of agricultural machinery for the 'Three Summers (summer harvest, summer planting and summer field management) production period. In response to possible rainy weather, we have prepared emergency equipment, including tracked harvesters and drying machinery," said Xu Jie, director of the Agricultural Machinery Technology Extension Center at Tancheng County Agriculture and Rural Affairs Bureau in Linyi City, Shandong Province.
The Huang-Huai-Hai main production region has currently organized 1,792 regional agricultural emergency disaster relief centers and 4,976 regular agricultural machinery emergency service teams, mobilizing over 280,000 tracked harvesters and more than 70,000 dryers of various types. These resources are fully dedicated to ensuring mature wheat is harvested promptly and dried thoroughly.
"If disasters occur during the summer harvest period, we will promptly activate the inter-provincial mutual assistance and cooperation mechanism to coordinate agricultural machinery emergency disaster relief efforts. At present, the wheat harvest progress is advancing efficiently and in an orderly manner. We are striving to complete the remaining task of harvesting over 200 million mu (about 13.33 million hectares) of wheat within approximately 20 days," said Wang Jiayun, deputy director of the Agricultural Mechanization Management Department at the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs.
China's wheat harvest tops 40 percent amid large-scale machinery deployment
