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Russia is expected to significantly increase the size of its military presence in Ukraine, with an additional 200-300 thousand troops set to join their ranks, according to Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov in an interview with Reuters. The minister added that the current number of Russian forces stationed in Ukraine and along its borders stands at 500 thousand troops. Umerov emphasized the urgency of mobilizing fresh recruits to facilitate the rotation of military personnel in response to the anticipated surge in Russian troop numbers. "At this stage, we are focused on training our personnel ... pilots, we are focused on...

The German government said Friday that Ukraine can use German-supplied weapons against Russian attacks from positions just over their joint border, in a significant policy change that came a day after U.S. President Joe Biden gave Kyiv a green light to strike back with American weapons at Russian military assets targeting the country’s second-largest city. A German government statement noted that, in recent weeks, Russia has prepared, coordinated and carried out attacks on Ukraine's northeastern Kharkiv region, in particular from areas just over the border in Russia. "Together we are convinced that Ukraine has the right under international law to...

Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky's office has instructed officials and lawmakers to publicly criticize US President Joe Biden and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping for their reluctance to attend a conference on Ukraine to be held in Switzerland on June 15-16, the Financial Times reported, citing a document. According to an unnamed senior Ukrainian official, Zelensky's office feels "paranoia" in recent months. "Zelensky has deep anxiety about the military situation but especially about the peace summit in June," the source said. The newspaper emphasized that Zelensky sees no point in the forum unless Biden and Xi Jinping attend. Several members of...

Pressure is mounting to allow Ukraine to use U.S.-provided weapons on military targets within Russian territory. The big picture: After the Biden administration instituted the ban in an attempt to keep the conflict from escalating, calls to remove the embargo have been growing from U.S. lawmakers, the NATO Parliamentary Assembly and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. The criticism from many is that the ban is hindering the country's ability to effectively defend itself. Context: Ukraine has been provided with a large arsenal of Western weapons, including long-range missiles, but it is not allowed to use them to strike targets in Russian...

As thousands fled Kyiv in the first days of Russia’s 2022 invasion, one 57-year-old grandmother hurried in the opposite direction. Liudmyla Menyuk was going to sign up for the army to avenge her son who’d been killed fighting the Russians almost a decade before. Many Ukrainians of Menyuk’s age have volunteered, sometimes motivated — like she was — by the explicit wish to stand in for a youth who might otherwise die in their place. “I performed my duties well,” she told Bloomberg in an interview, “so I could save the life of a young Ukrainian.” But the enthusiasm of...

Western countries should let Ukraine strike military bases inside Russia with the sophisticated long-range weapons they are providing to Kyiv, French President Emmanuel Macron said, pressuring his allies in the most recent sign of a potentially significant policy shift that could help change the complexion of the war. The question of whether to allow Ukraine to hit targets on Russian soil with Western-supplied weaponry has been a delicate issue since the Kremlin’s full-scale invasion of its neighbor in February 2022. Western leaders have mostly shrunk from taking the step because it runs the risk of provoking Russian President Vladimir Putin,...

Poland has signed a $735 million contract with the U.S. for the supply of JASSM-ER missiles, Defense Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz said on Tuesday. The country is spending heavily to bolster its armed forces since Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Warsaw is spending around 4% of its gross domestic product on defense this year and last week announced an agreement with the U.S. The missiles have a range of around 621 miles, according to the defense ministry.

Ukraine urgently needs new soldiers, but some — left uneasy by brutal fighting and intensifying conscription efforts — are desperately trying to avoid being called up. “When you see people in uniform, you panic. You start thinking someone will mobilize you now against your will,” a lawyer based in Kyiv told NBC News. He did not want his identity known, fearful, like a growing number of men across the country, of being drafted into the army... “I love my country,” he said in a phone interview earlier this month. “I donate to the Ukrainian army. But unfortunately, I am not...

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky issued a warning to his U.S. counterpart Joe Biden on Tuesday over his attendance at a Kyiv-led peace summit in Switzerland next month."If [Biden] is not present, it will be just like applauding Putin: personally applauding and doing so standing," Zelensky said, as he urged as many countries as possible to participate in his peace summit."If you want peace, you will be there and you will speak, even if you don't agree with something," he said. "And if you want war, you will go to the mob that Russia wants to organize.

A Ukrainian missile attack triggered a fire on Monday in the Russian-held northeastern city of Luhansk, the latest in a series of strikes near the city, the regional Russia-installed governor said. Leonid Pasechnik, writing on the Telegram messaging app, said the strike was made with cluster munitions. "A fire has broken out as a result of the attack," Pasechnik said. Pasechnik said information on casualties was being clarified. Russia's Tass news agency, quoting emergency services, said there had been injuries. There was no official Ukrainian comment. Ukrainian media and war bloggers posted a picture of what they described as a...

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has urged Western leaders to pressure Russia into peace using "all means" necessary. ... Mr Zelensky has long said he will not negotiate with Russia directly until Moscow's forces leave all Ukrainian territory, including Crimea. ... The Ukrainian president rejected the idea of inviting Russia to a planned peace summit in Switzerland next month. ... Delegates will "try and chart a course for a just and lasting peace in Ukraine" based on 10 demands set forth by Kyiv calling for the return of all invaded territory, reparation payments for war-related damages and the creation of a...

Ukraine's top commander said on Monday he had signed paperwork allowing French military instructors to visit Ukrainian training centres soon. "I am pleased to welcome France's initiative to send instructors to Ukraine to train Ukrainian servicemen," Oleksandr Syrskyi said on the Telegram messaging app after talks via video link with French defence minister Sebastien Lecornu. "I have already signed the documents that will enable the first French instructors to visit our training centres shortly and familiarize themselves with their infrastructure and personnel." Syrskyi gave no further details but said he believed that France's determination would encourage other partners to join...

Against the backdrop of continuing Russian advances, some Western leaders have started to advocate missile strikes inside Russian territory, from NATO’s Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg up to chief warmonger, former British Premier Boris Johnson: Now, some European neighboring countries have started preparing to introduce their troops into Ukraine in case of strategic Russian advances in Eastern Ukraine. The Baltic states and Poland have warned Germany that they could send troops to Ukraine if the situation gets noticeably worse for Kiev due to its allies being reluctant to supply it with weapons.

KYIV (Reuters) -A Ukrainian drone targeted a long-range radar deep inside Russia on Sunday, the second such strike in a week on infrastructure used by Moscow to monitor Ukraine’s military activities, a Kyiv intelligence source said. The source said the strike was aimed at a “Voronezh M” radar near the city of Orsk in the Orenburg region some 1,500 km from the closest territory held by Kyiv’s forces. The source, who declined to be named, did not say if there was any damage, but the move would make it one of the deepest attempted drone strikes in Russian territory since...

Ukrainian President Zelenskyy's approval rating soared to a high of 90% after Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022. As the war drags on, his popularity has waned.

Mobilized Ukrainians live on the front line for an average of three hours, failed conscripts who escaped conscription to Hungary told the Hungarian publication Tynyek.According to them, conscription for military service meant only “certain death” for them. They continue to hide even abroad because they are afraid that the looters will reach here too. Police or soldiers stop people on the street, take away their documents, and then detain them. Those who do not present documents are immediately put on a bus and taken to some military camp, where, after very short training, they are immediately sent to the front,...

According to a media report by Welt, current intelligence reports warn of “larger” territorial losses due to Russian superiority by the end of the year. The assessment states that the “overall picture” for Ukraine is “darkening” due to Russian dominance.MP Ralf Stegner, a committee member, said the intelligence assessment is “essentially accurate” and aligns “with what I know.” The report expects Ukraine will not “regain the initiative” in 2024 and will likely suffer “significantly larger territorial losses” than since January.It cites Russia’s “significantly” stronger artillery deployment and ability to “more than compensate” for losses, while Kyiv cannot recruit enough new...

Vladimir Solovyov, media personality and ally to Russian President Vladimir Putin, recently suggested that Moscow launch a missile strike at the torch of the Statue of Liberty in New York City. Amid Moscow's ongoing full-scale invasion of Ukraine that Putin launched in February 2022, Solovyov has been a source of Russian propaganda. He has talked about Russia expanding its war, claiming that the country owns Ukraine and even parts of Europe like Poland and Finland.

The commander stepped over boxes stacked full of plastic drones and opened the lid on a new delivery. Inside lay the light-gray fins of a mini plane, the latest addition to his arsenal of crewless aerial vehicles for fighting the Russian army. The 33-year-old leader of what an internal report declared Ukrainian army’s best-performing drone unit, Senior Lt. Yuriy Fedorenko — popularly known by his call sign, Achilles — has been the main constraint on the Russian attempt to seize the strategic town of Chasiv Yar on Ukraine’s teetering eastern front. For months, his drone teams, part of the 92nd...

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) – Ukrainian forces have secured “combat control” of areas where Russian troops entered the northeastern Kharkiv region earlier this month, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said. “Our soldiers have now managed to take combat control of the border area where the Russian occupiers entered,” Zelenskyy said in his nightly video address on Friday evening. Zelenskyy’s comments appeared to be at odds with those made by Russian officials.