This problem seems very similar to "calculate the number of swaps required to get an array $$$b$$$ (with distinct elements) starting from $$$a$$$", but there can be equal elements.

Some swaps are useless (which ones?)

It's useless to swap equal characters. For each character, can you get its final position in the reversed string? (Treat equal characters as distinguishable values)

Note that it's useless to swap equal characters (in fact, the string doesn't change and you waste $$$1$$$ move).
Consider each character $$$c$$$ from 'a' to 'z' separately. The relative order of a subsequence of equal characters doesn't change in the optimal solution.
Hence, the $$$i$$$-th leftmost occurrence of $$$c$$$ in the initial string should move to the $$$i$$$-th leftmost occurrence of $$$c$$$ in the reversed string. If you number each character of the string, treating equal characters as distinguishable values, you can calculate the array $$$a$$$ such that $$$a_i$$$ is the final position of $$$s_i$$$ in the reversed string, and the result is the number of inversions of $$$a$$$.
For example, consider the string acabcaaababbcb. The reversed string is bcbbabaaacbaca. The positions of 'b' in the reversed string are $$${1, 3, 4, 6, 11}$$$, and this means that $$$a_4 = 1, a_9 = 3, \dots, a_{14} = 11$$$ (in fact, $$$a = [5, 2, 7, 1, 10, 8, 9, 12, 3, 14, 4, 6, 13, 11]$$$).

If there are two adjacent elements, it's optimal to remove them.

In Proof 1, we've seen that a swap changes the number of inversions by $$$1$$$. Here, you should calculate something slightly different than the number of inversions.

Consider two pairs of equal elements. What should their relative positions be at the end?

The answer is $$$n + \text{# of pairs of integers (x, y) such that their order in the array is xyxy}$$$. Can you calculate it efficiently?

Consider two pairs of equal elements (integers $$$(x, y)$$$). If you want to remove those pairs, in some moment their relative positions should be $$$\text{xyyx}$$$ (or $$$\text{yxxy}$$$). Instead, if the relative positions are $$$\text{xyxy}$$$, you want to swap two of these elements. If $$$k$$$ is the number of pairs of integers $$$(x, y)$$$ such that their order in the array is $$$\text{xyxy}$$$, do you need exactly $$$k$$$ swaps (and $$$n$$$ removals)? It turns out that the answer is yes. Sketch of a proof:

• if there are no $$$\text{xyxy}$$$, there are two adjacent equal elements (so you can remove them)
• if you remove two adjacent equal elements, the number of $$$\text{xyxy}$$$ doesn't change
• if there are no adjacent equal elements, there is a $$$\text{xyxy}$$$ such that two of these characters are adjacent (so you can swap them and eliminate a $$$\text{xyxy}$$$)

Now let's calculate $$$k$$$. Let $$$(x_i, y_i)$$$ be $$$n$$$ pairs such that $$$x_i < y_i, a_{x_i} = a_{y_i}$$$: now you have to calculate, for each $$$j$$$, how many indices $$$i$$$ meet $$$x_i < x_j, x_j < y_i < y_j$$$.
You can use a Fenwick tree that contains how many times each value in $$$[1, n]$$$ occurs as a $$$y_i$$$, considering only pairs such that $$$x_i < x_j$$$.
So, for each $$$j$$$, the queries look like

• $$$res := res + \text{range_sum}(x_j + 1, y_j - 1)$$$
• add $$$1$$$ in the position $$$y_j$$$ of the Fenwick tree

When is the answer -1?

The answer is -1 if there are $$$\geq 2$$$ characters with an odd number of occurrences in the string. Otherwise, can you calculate the optimal final position of each character, like in 1430E - String Reversal?

Once again, it's useless to swap equal characters. So, what's the relative position of equal characters? Which characters should be located in symmetrical positions (i.e. $$$i, n - i + 1$$$)?

The $$$i$$$-th leftmost occurrence and the $$$i$$$-th rightmost occurrence of a character $$$c$$$ in the initial string should move to symmetrical positions in the final string. Let's consider such "symmetrical pairs": what's the optimal relative order of two pairs with distinct letters? What about the letter in the center of the string (if its length is odd)?

If there are $$$\geq 2$$$ characters with an odd number of occurrences in the string, you can't make a palindrome.
Since it's useless to swap equal characters, you know which pairs of characters will stay on symmetrical positions in the final strings, i.e. the $$$i$$$-th leftmost occurrence and the $$$i$$$-th rightmost occurrence of any character $$$c$$$.
In the string acabcaaababbc, for example, you can make these "symmetrical pairs": positions $$$(1, 10), (2, 13), (3, 8), (4, 12), (6, 7), (9, 11)$$$. The character in position $$$5$$$ should go in the center of the final string (i.e. position $$$7$$$).
The symmetrical pairs have to be nested inside each other, in some order. Given two symmetrical pairs, which of them should be located outside the other one?
It turns out that the pair that contains the leftmost element should be located outside. In fact, if you want to reach $$$\text{xyyx}$$$, the initial configurations with $$$x$$$ on the left ($$$\text{xxyy}$$$, $$$\text{xyxy}$$$, $$$\text{xyyx}$$$) require $$$2, 1, 0$$$ moves respectively, while reaching $$$\text{yxxy}$$$ requires $$$2, 1, 2$$$ moves respectively.
So you can sort the symmetrical pairs by leftmost element and construct the array $$$a$$$ such that $$$a_i$$$ is the final position of $$$s_i$$$ in the reversed string (in this case, $$$[1, 2, 3, 4, 7, 5, 9, 11, 6, 13, 8, 10, 12]$$$) and the result is the number of inversions of $$$a$$$.

When is the answer -1?

The answer is -1 if there are $$$\geq 2$$$ characters with an odd number of occurrences in the string. Otherwise, can you calculate the optimal final position of each character, like in 1430E - String Reversal?

Once again, it's useless to swap equal characters. So, what's the relative position of equal characters? Which characters should be located in symmetrical positions (i.e. $$$i, n - i + 1$$$)?

The $$$i$$$-th leftmost occurrence and the $$$i$$$-th rightmost occurrence of a character $$$c$$$ in the initial string should move to symmetrical positions in the final string. Let's consider such "symmetrical pairs": what's the optimal relative order of two pairs with distinct letters? What about the letter in the center of the string (if its length is odd)?

If there are $$$\geq 2$$$ characters with an odd number of occurrences in the string, you can't make a palindrome.
Since it's useless to swap equal characters, you know which pairs of characters will stay on symmetrical positions in the final strings, i.e. the $$$i$$$-th leftmost occurrence and the $$$i$$$-th rightmost occurrence of any character $$$c$$$.
In the string acabcaaababbc, for example, you can make these "symmetrical pairs": positions $$$(1, 10), (2, 13), (3, 8), (4, 12), (6, 7), (9, 11)$$$. The character in position $$$5$$$ should go in the center of the final string (i.e. position $$$7$$$).
The symmetrical pairs have to be nested inside each other, in some order. Given two symmetrical pairs, which of them should be located outside the other one?
It turns out that the pair that contains the leftmost element should be located outside. In fact, if you want to reach $$$\text{xyyx}$$$, the initial configurations with $$$x$$$ on the left ($$$\text{xxyy}$$$, $$$\text{xyxy}$$$, $$$\text{xyyx}$$$) require $$$2, 1, 0$$$ moves respectively, while reaching $$$\text{yxxy}$$$ requires $$$2, 1, 2$$$ moves respectively.
So you can sort the symmetrical pairs by leftmost element and construct the array $$$a$$$ such that $$$a_i$$$ is the final position of $$$s_i$$$ in the reversed string (in this case, $$$[1, 2, 3, 4, 7, 5, 9, 11, 6, 13, 8, 10, 12]$$$) and the result is the number of inversions of $$$a$$$.