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Russia reported between 140,000 and 180,000 prisoners in the to fight in a war against Ukrainethe Ukrainian Foreign Intelligence Service (SZRU) announced. Kiev Independent.
A Russian government order ending a one-off payment of £2,842 to prisoners for signing a contract with the Russian Ministry of Defense to participate in the war against Ukraine came into effect on January 1.
“The legislative abolition of the one-time payment is proof of the deepening crisis in the Russian economy and the lack of financial resources,” claims the Ukrainian Foreign Intelligence Service.
The Independent could not confirm these claims.
It comes as Volodymyr Zelensky listened to incoming US President Donald Trump say he could be decisive in the outcome of the 34-month war with Russia and help stop Vladimir Putin.
“He can be decisive in this war,” said the Ukrainian president. “He is able to stop Putin or, more accurately, to help us stop Putin. He is able to do it.”
Zelensky says Trump can be decisive in helping stop Putin
President-elect Donald Trump could be decisive in the outcome of the 34-month war with Russia and help stop Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin, Volodymyr Zelensky said.
Zelensky, faced with advancing Russian forces in eastern Ukraine, said in an interview with Ukrainian television that Trump had told him he would be one of the first to visit Washington after the presidential inauguration this month.
The Ukrainian president also said that the priority is to stabilize the front line at the beginning of the new year. Putin, as he said, was afraid of negotiations because they would be tantamount to Russia’s defeat.
“He is very strong and unpredictable, and I would really like to see President Trump’s unpredictability applied to Russia. I believe he really wants to end the war,” he said. “Trump can be decisive. For us, this is the most important thing,” he said in a television interview.
“His qualities are really there,” Zelensky said of Trump. “He can be decisive in this war. He is able to stop Putin or, more accurately, help us stop Putin. He is able to do it.”
Jabed Ahmed3 January 2025 11:01
Russia has recruited up to 180,000 convicts for the war against Ukraine – reports
Russia has recruited between 140,000 and 180,000 prisoners to fight in its war against Ukraine, Ukraine’s Foreign Intelligence Service (SZRU) said, according to Kyiv Independent.
There were about 300,000-350,000 prisoners in Russian prisons in 2024, which is half the number in 2014, according to the Ukrainian intelligence agency.
Jabed Ahmed3 January 2025 10:29
Russia has launched a new barrage of drones into Ukraine, killing one, Kiev says
Russia launched a drone barrage in an overnight attack on Ukraine on Friday, killing one civilian and wounding four others in the Kiev region, military and regional officials said.
Ukrainian air defenses shot down 60 of 93 Russian drones, the air force said. It also said 26 drones were “lost”, in connection with Ukraine’s use of electronic warfare to divert Russian drones.
One Russian drone was still in the air, the air force added.
Mykola Kalashnyk, acting governor of the Kyiv region, said the truck driver was killed by drone debris. The debris also damaged several private houses, injuring four people, including a 16-year-old boy, he said.
Jabed Ahmed3 January 2025 09:58
In the picture: Wounded Ukrainian soldiers find comfort in Greek monasteries
Jabed Ahmed3 January 2025 08:59
Ukraine is cutting off the Russian gas pipeline to Europe – but how much will it cost Moscow?
Russian gas no longer flows to EU countries through Ukraine after a five-year deal expired, closing an energy route that has existed since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.
President Volodymyr Zelensky said that this move means Russia can no longer “make billions off our blood”.
His Energy Minister Herman Halushchenko confirmed on Wednesday morning that Kiev had stopped the flow of gas “in the interest of national security”.
“This is a historic event,” he wrote on the Telegram social network. “Russia is losing markets and will suffer financial losses.”
Arpan Rai3 January 2025 08:00
ICYMI: Zelensky says Ukraine is preparing to restore diplomatic relations with Syria
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he was preparing to re-establish diplomatic relations with Syria, less than a month after the Russian-backed government in Damascus was toppled.
Zelensky said this after the visit to Syria by his Minister of Foreign Affairs Andrij Sybiha and Minister of Agriculture Vitaly Koval, who previously said that Ukraine had already sent a shipment of food aid.
“We are preparing to restore diplomatic relations with Syria and cooperation in international organizations,” Zelenski said.
Ukraine severed diplomatic relations with Syria in June 2022 after the then-government in Damascus said it recognized the “independence” of Russian-occupied territories in Ukraine’s Donetsk and Luhansk regions.
Since rebels ousted Syrian President Bashar al-Assad last month, Ukraine has moved to build ties with the country’s new Islamist rulers. Russia, which invaded Ukraine in 2022, has been a staunch ally of Assad and granted him political asylum.
Moscow also said it was in contact with the new administration in Damascus, including over the fate of Russian military facilities in Syria.
Jabed Ahmed3 January 2025 07:00
Kremlin supporters are hailing Trump’s takeover threats as an aid to Putin’s expansionist goals
Arpan Rai3 January 2025 06:36
Russia lost 420,000 troops last year to gain 4,168 square kilometers in Ukraine and Kursk, ISW says
In 2024, Russian forces gained 4,168 square kilometers of land, mostly fields and small settlements in Ukraine and the Kursk region, but suffered more than 420,000 casualties in the process, according to a US think tank that monitors the war.
The Institute for the Study of War cited last week’s remarks by Ukraine’s army chief, Oleksandr Sirsky, that Russian forces had suffered 427,000 casualties in 2024.
“ISW observed geolocated evidence to estimate that Russian forces advanced 4,168 square kilometers in 2024, indicating that Russian forces suffered approximately 102 casualties per square kilometer of occupied Ukrainian territory,” the assessment released Wednesday said.
Russian forces achieved 56.5 percent of their 2024 territorial gains between September and November, it added.
Jabed Ahmed3 January 2025 06:00
Zelensky says that Ukraine is preparing to restore diplomatic relations with Syria
Volodymyr Zelensky said that Ukraine is preparing to re-establish diplomatic relations with Syria.
“We are preparing to restore diplomatic relations with Syria and cooperation in international organizations,” Zelensky said after hearing a report on the visit of Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha to Syria on Monday.
Arpan Rai3 January 2025 05:14