Rusia y Ucrania anunciaron este sábado el canje de 350 prisioneros de guerra, 175 por cada bando, con la mediación de los Emiratos Árabes Unidos.

El anuncio, hecho casi simultáneamente por el ministerio de Defensa de Rusia y por el presidente ucraniano, Volodímir Zelensky, se produjo horas antes de que comience la tregua anunciada por las partes beligerantes con ocasión de la Pascua ortodoxa.

“Nuestros soldados están regresando a casa. 175 militares. Soldados de las Fuerzas Armadas, guardias nacionales, guardias de fronteras. Soldados rasos, sargentos y oficiales. Y siete civiles”, escribió Zelensky en sus redes sociales.

En el caso de los combatientes rusos, como en anteriores ocasiones, estos se encuentran en territorio de Bielorrusia, donde reciben asistencia médica y psicológica, según Moscú.

Además, añade la nota castrense rusa, Kiev devolvió a siete civiles de la región fronteriza rusa de Kursk, ocupada parcialmente por el ejército ucraniano durante menos de un año.

Moscú agradeció a las autoridades de los Emiratos “los esfuerzos humanitarios” realizados para consumar el intercambio.

Por su parte, Zelensky indicó que los militares ucraniano liberados habían sido capturados cuando defendían a Ucrania en diversos puntos del frente, por ejemplo la ciudad costera de Mariúpol (sur), tomada por Rusia en 2022, o la central nuclear de Chernóbil, así como en las regiones de Donetsk, Lugansk, Kharkiv, Khersón, Zaporizhzhia, Sumi y Kiev y en la región rusa de Kursk.

“Entre ellos hay heridos. La mayoría han estado cautivos desde 2022. Y ahora, finalmente, en casa”, subrayó Zelensky.

El presidente agradeció su trabajo a las unidades ucranianas que capturan soldados rusos, con los que amplían las reservas de prisioneros de guerra para canjear, y señaló la importancia de recuperar a todos los ucranianos cautivos en Rusia.

A pocas horas de la tregua pascual

Poco antes, Zelensky había reiterado el compromiso de su país con la tregua con ocasión de la Pascua ortodoxa que está previsto que comience en pocas horas con Rusia y advirtió de una respuesta “simétrica” en caso de que el enemigo infrinja el alto el fuego.

Además, insistió en que Ucrania está dispuesta a prolongar la tregua de dos días, a pesar de que el viernes Moscú volviera a rechazar esta posibilidad y justificara el alto el fuego temporal con la Pascua ortodoxa y con su “carácter humanitario”.

Este jueves el Kremlin anunció unilateralmente “un alto el fuego desde las 16:00 horas (13:00 GMT) del 11 de abril hasta el término del 12 de abril de 2026” sin previas consultas con Estados Unidos ni Ucrania, al que se sumó de inmediato Kiev.

Ambos bandos informaron el viernes sobre otro canje de los cadáveres de mil soldados ucranianos por 41 rusos. En línea con lo acordado el pasado año en Estambul, Moscú habría entregado en torno a 10.000 cuerpos de ucranianos caídos en acción y recibido cerca de 200.

Esta proporción se debe al avance ruso en el frente, que -aunque lento- no permite a los ucranianos recoger a sus caídos en el campo de batalla.

(Con información de EFE)

Russia and China vetoed a U.N. Security Council resolution Tuesday aimed at reopening the Strait of Hormuz, just hours before President Donald Trump’s deadline for Iran to cease threatening the key waterway. 

Trump has given Iran until 8 p.m. ET to reopen the Strait of Hormuz or face strikes against its power plants and bridges on Tuesday. The resolution received 11 votes in favor and two against, with abstentions from Pakistan and Colombia. 

«No one should tolerate that they are holding the global economy at gunpoint, but today, Russia and China did tolerate,» U.S. Ambassador Mike Waltz said Tuesday. «They sided with a regime that seeks to intimidate the Gulf into submission, even as it brutalizes its own people during a national internet blackout for daring to imagine dignity or freedom.»

«Failing to adopt this resolution sends the wrong signal to the world, to the people of the world — the signal that the threat to international waterways can pass without any decisive action by the international organization responsible for the maintenance of international peace and security,» Bahrain’s foreign minister, Abdullatif bin Rashid Al Zayani, added following the vote. 

US EMBASSIES IN BAHRAIN, EGYPT ISSUE WARNINGS AS IRAN THREATENS UNIVERSITIES ACROSS MIDDLE EAST

The vetoed resolution, which was introduced by Bahrain, «strongly encourages states interested in the use of commercial maritime routes in the Strait of Hormuz to coordinate efforts, defensive in nature, commensurate with the circumstances, to contribute to ensuring the safety and security of navigation across the Strait of Hormuz.»

The resolution also demanded that Iran immediately halt attacks on merchant and commercial vessels and stop impeding their freedom of navigation through the Strait of Hormuz and attacking civilian infrastructure. 

The language of the resolution was significantly weakened to try to get Russia and China to abstain rather than veto it, according to The Associated Press. 

The initial Gulf proposal would have authorized countries to use «all necessary means» — U.N. wording that would include military action — to ensure transit through the Strait of Hormuz and deter attempts to close it.

WHY THE STRAIT OF HORMUZ MATTERS AS TRUMP ISSUES FRESH ULTIMATUM TO IRAN

Cargo ships in the Gulf, near the Strait of Hormuz, as seen from northern Ras al-Khaimah, near the border with Oman’s Musandam governance, in United Arab Emirates, March 11, 2026. (Reuters/Stringer/File Photo/File Photo)

After Russia, China and France, all veto-wielding countries on the 15-member Security Council, expressed opposition to approving the use of force, the resolution was revised to eliminate all references to offensive action. It would have authorized only «all defensive means necessary.» A vote had been expected on Saturday. 

But instead, the resolution was further weakened to eliminate any reference to Security Council authorization — which is an order for action — and limit its provisions to the Strait of Hormuz. Previous drafts had included adjacent waters. 

«Let me be clear — this text would only embolden the United States and the Israeli regime to continue in their unlawful actions and atrocious crime, while shielding from accountability,» Iran’s ambassador to the U.N., Amir Saeid Iravani, said following the vote.

Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia, of Russia, waits for the start of a Security Council meeting at U.N. headquarters in New York City on April 7, 2026. (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)

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«The Iranian regime has until 8 p.m. Eastern Time to meet the moment and make a deal with the United States,» White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told Fox News on Tuesday. «Only the president knows where things stand and what he will do.» 

Fox News’ Patrick Ward, Anders Hagstrom and The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

California gubernatorial candidate Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., is facing backlash on social media after it was reported that his lawyer was sending cease-and-desist letters to Swalwell’s accusers a day before multiple bombshell allegations were published on Friday.

Swalwell, who once called on lawmakers to hear out women raising allegations against Supreme Court Justice nominee Brett Kavanaugh during his 2018 confirmation hearings and said they «deserve to be heard,» is now being slammed for hypocrisy.

«I saw continued demeaning of victims of sexual assault, people who deserve to be heard, people who deserve their allegations to be investigated and a president who wants to rush this through,» Swalwell said in an interview with MSNBC at the time.

«And so, for Brett Kavanaugh’s sake, if he is innocent, I hope tomorrow he opens his statement and says, ‘You know what? Bring in all the victims, all of them to be questioned.’ That will clear his name if he is indeed innocent,» Swalwell added.

SWALWELL VOWS TO MAKE ICE AGENTS ‘UN-HIRABLE’ IN CALIFORNIA STATE GOVERNMENT POSITIONS

The resurfaced clip comes as Swalwell has made efforts to downplay allegations against him as he leads a crowded field of gubernatorial hopefuls in a race to replace outgoing Gov. Gavin Newsom, who is prevented by term limits from remaining in the role.

Jonathan Turley, a Fox News contributor and Shapiro Professor of Public Interest Law at George Washington University, took to X on Friday, saying Swalwell is «hoping that voters will apply a different standard than the one he applied to Justice Brett Kavanaugh during his confirmation.»

«When Kavanaugh was asserting his innocence, Swalwell was leading the mob,» Turley continued.

Mike Davis, the former chief counsel for nominations in the Senate Judiciary Committee, posted «Receipt time» on X while resurfacing an old Swalwell post attacking Kavanaugh.

«Oh, how I remember this hypocritical predator peddling these utterly bullsh– allegations against Kavanaugh,» Davis said in another post.

Rumblings of sexual misconduct from Swalwell first emerged last month when Cheyenne Hunt, a former Capitol Hill staffer and a progressive political media personality, began circulating testimony from women who said they had been sexually assaulted by the congressman.

Swalwell’s lawyer, Elias Dabaie, reportedly sent out cease-and-desist letters to try to quell the rumors Thursday, but multiple outlets, including CNN and the San Francisco Chronicle, published bombshell reports Friday, which Swalwell later denied in a video he posted late Friday night on X.

ADAM SCHIFF MAKES ENDORSEMENT IN CALIFORNIA GUBERNATORIAL RACE

Democratic United States Representative Eric Swalwell delivers a speech as he attends the SEIU-United Service Workers West (SEIU-USWW)’s Gubernatorial Candidate Worker Forum at Meruelo Studios in Los Angeles, California, on January 10, 2026. = (Etienne Laurent/AFP)

One of the alleged victims shared her story publicly for the first time, accusing Swalwell of taking advantage of her while she was intoxicated on multiple occasions, according to a report published by the San Francisco Chronicle. 

The alleged victim’s story also included claims that Swalwell pressured her to send naked pictures of herself and sent sexually explicit photos of his own, pulled out his private parts while driving in a car with her and requested she perform oral sex on him, among other incidents the victim said affected how Swalwell treated her professionally.

The unnamed female accuser reportedly worked for Swalwell for about two years and revealed that he started pursuing her, despite being married, shortly after she was hired as a 21-year-old staffer in his district office.  

She also reportedly revealed that years after she worked for Swalwell, she attended an April 2024 charity event Swalwell was being honored at and reunited with him. In her account of the night, which included grabbing drinks with him after the event and later blacking out, she alleged that she remembered pushing Swalwell away and told him «no» as he allegedly tried to force her to have sex with him in his hotel room. 

The woman reportedly texted a friend after the incident telling her she had been sexually assaulted by Swalwell. Other messages reviewed by the San Francisco Chronicle reportedly showed the victim indicating she had «blacked out» but «woke up once during it and even told him to stop at one point.»

Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) speaks during a House Judiciary Committee hearing with FBI Director Kash Patel in the Rayburn House Office Building on Sept. 17, 2025.  (Win McNamee/Getty Images)

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After the allegations went viral and top Democrats called for him to drop out of the California gubernatorial race, Swalwell said in a video message on X that the «sexual assault allegations are flat false. They are absolutely false. They did not happen. They have never happened and I will fight them with everything that I have.»

«I’ve certainly made mistakes in judgment in my past, but those mistakes are between me and my wife and to her- I apologize deeply for putting her in this position,» Swalwell continued.

«This false, outrageous rumor is being spread 27 days before an election begins by flailing opponents who have sadly teamed up with MAGA conspiracy theorists because they know Eric Swalwell is the frontrunner in this race,» Micah Beasley, a spokesperson for Swalwell, said earlier this week.

Swalwell’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.