Ukraine proposes mobilising up to 500,000 more people into army – Zelenskiy
Kyiv, Ukraine/London, UKReuters Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Tuesday the military had proposed mobilising 450,000 to 500,000 more Ukrainians into the armed forces in what would mark a dramatic step up of Kyiv’s war with Russia. The Ukrainian leader told his end-of-year news conference it was a “highly sensitive” issue that the military and […]
Wow!: Musicians fleeing Russia find a new audience in Georgia
FILIPP LEBEDEV and MAXIM SHEMETOV, of Reuters, report on how Russian musicians are forging new lives in Georgia…
Russia declares end of Ukraine mobilisation campaign, US sending more arms
Frontlines north iof Kherson, Ukraine Reuters Russia said on Friday it had finished calling up reservists to fight in Ukraine, having drafted hundreds of thousands in a month and sending more than a quarter of them already to the battlefield after a divisive mobilisation campaign that was its first since World War II. The United […]
Russia opens investigation after gunmen kill 11 at Russian army base in new blow to Moscow’s Ukraine campaign
Kyiv, UkraineReuters Russia has opened a criminal investigation after gunmen shot dead 11 people at a military training ground near the Ukrainian border, authorities said on Sunday, as fighting raged in eastern and southern Ukraine. Russia’s RIA news agency, citing the defence ministry, said two gunmen opened fire with small arms during a firearms training […]
Putin says Ukraine mobilisation should be finished in two weeks
Astana, KazakhstanReuters Russia should be finished calling up reservists in two weeks, President Vladimir Putin said on Friday, promising an end to a divisive mobilisation that has seen hundreds of thousands of men summoned to fight in Ukraine and huge numbers flee the country. Putin also said Russia had no plans “for now” for more […]
Putin to host Kremlin ceremony annexing parts of Ukraine
Reuters Russian President Vladimir Putin was set to host a Kremlin ceremony on Friday annexing four regions of Ukraine, while his Ukrainian counterpart said Putin would have to be stopped for Russia to avoid the most damaging consequences of the war. There was a warning too from United Nations chief Antonio Guterres who said the […]
Kazakhstan struggles to accommodate Russians fleeing war
Almaty, KazakhstanReuters Kazakhstan is struggling to accommodate tens of thousands of Russians who have fled their homeland since Moscow announced a military mobilisation last week, officials say, but the Almaty government has no plans to close its border. Russian men, some with families, started crossing the world’s second-longest land border en masse after Russian President […]
Russian reservists leave behind sobbing relatives, new brides
Bataysk, Russia Reuters The sound of old Soviet war songs mixed with the sobbing of relatives in the small Russian town of Bataysk as freshly mobilised reservists in Russia’s southern Rostov region said goodbye to their families on Monday. Recruits were summoned as part of the partial mobilisation announced by Russian President Vladimir Putin after […]
Ukraine annexation votes to end amid Russian mobilisation exodus
Kyiv, Ukraine Reuters Russian-organised referendums that could lead to annexing 15 per cent of Ukraine’s territory were due to end on Tuesday as the Kremlin said it made no decisions on closing its borders as the first mobilisation since World War II prompted some to flee. Voting in the Ukrainian provinces of Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson […]
“They are taking everyone”: In poor, rural Buryatia, Russia’s partial mobilisation hits hard
FELIX LIGHT, of Reuters, reports from Buryatia, a mostly rural region wrapped around the southern shore of Lake Baikal in Siberia…