At least 53,000 army recruitment advertisements have appeared on the Russian social media outlet VKontakte since the beginning of March, according to a report by Novaya Gazeta Europe. The figure represents a seven-fold increase compared to Russia’s largely unsuccessful recruitment campaign for volunteer soldiers last summer, according to Novaya Gazeta Europe’s calculations. Recruitment advertisements have appeared…
Kyiv said Wednesday it had received the first shipments of the American-made Patriot surface-to-air missile system and deployed light-armored fighting vehicles sent by France as it prepares for a major counter-offensive against Russian forces in eastern Ukraine. “Today, our beautiful Ukrainian sky becomes more secure because Patriot air defense systems have arrived in Ukraine,” Ukrainian…
President Vladimir Putin’s first trip to meet his generals in Russian-occupied Ukraine publicized by the Kremlin earlier this week was an attempt to show he is in control of the military situation and compete with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, according to analysts. This is only the second time Putin has publicly traveled to the areas…
The Moscow City Court dismissed Wednesday an appeal against jailed Kremlin critic Ilya Yashin’s eight-and-a-half prison sentence handed down last year under Russia’s wartime censorship laws. Yashin, 39, was convicted in December for spreading “false” information about the Russian military’s alleged killing of civilians in the Kyiv suburb town of Bucha last spring. Ahead of…
Russian officials have raised concerns about excessive reliance on Chinese technologies after losing access to sophisticated components due to Western sanctions, Bloomberg reported Wednesday, citing European officials familiar with the document. Chips, network devices and electronics were assessed to be areas of particular vulnerability to Chinese dependence, according to the document that Bloomberg said was…
Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) said it had prevented an attack on energy systems in annexed Crimea, state media reported Wednesday. An unidentified Russian-Ukrainian national was detained in the Crimean city of Kerch on suspicion of preparing to commit an act of sabotage and illegally buying and storing explosives, according to the TASS news agency. “An…
Russia launched a drone attack on Ukraine’s southern port city of Odesa early Wednesday but there were no reports of casualties, authorities said. “At night, the enemy carried out an attack by UAVs of the Shahed-136 type on the Odesa region,” Yuriy Kruk, head of the Odesa district military administration, said in a statement on Telegram.…
On a recent cold March afternoon, a handful of people gathered on a square in downtown Ulyanovsk, a midsized Russian city on the Volga River, to demand the return of direct elections for the city’s mayorship. Despite a large police presence, the gathering — which featured speeches from local activists and politicians — went ahead…
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov called Tuesday for like-minded countries to “join forces” against the “blackmail” of Western sanctions, as the longtime diplomat continued his tour of Latin America. Discussing Russia’s war on Ukraine with counterpart Yvan Gil in Caracas, Lavrov referred to allies Venezuela, Cuba and Nicaragua as countries “that choose their own path.”…