Ukraine struggles to recruit troops, Russia arrests deputy defense minister

Ukraine seeks to force men abroad to participate in military recruitment

Ukraine has decided to stop providing consular services to male citizens of military age from April 23 to May 18, in an effort to force these people to return home to participate in the military recruitment process, according to Reuters.

The decision means that men of military age currently living abroad will not be able to renew expired passports, obtain new passports or official documents such as marriage certificates. The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said this policy will be in effect until the military mobilization law and related regulations take effect on May 18.

Under the military mobilization law, all Ukrainian men of military age will have to visit military recruitment offices to update their documents, either remotely or in person, within 60 days. Men in this age group abroad will need those documents to access consular services.

“What it looks like now: a man of military age went abroad, showed that he did not care about the survival of this state, then came and wanted to enjoy services from this state,” Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba wrote on X, according to Reuters.

“[Ukraine] There is a war… Living abroad does not lessen a citizen’s obligations to his homeland,” he said.

Mr. Kuleba’s harsh tone appeared to reflect growing frustration in Kyiv with Ukrainians living abroad and not contributing to the fighting effort at home. The Ukrainian army is struggling to hold the front line partly because of a lack of troops.

The Eurostat database estimates that about 4.3 million Ukrainians are living in European Union (EU) countries as of January 2024, of which about 860,000 are adult men.

UK, Germany pledge to support Ukraine “no matter how long”

The leaders of Britain and Germany on April 24 pledged to support Ukraine in its war with Russia “no matter how long it takes”, but Berlin once again refused to transfer long-range Taurus missiles to Kyiv.

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has arrived in the German capital Berlin on his first visit since coming to power 18 months ago. “We are defending values ​​that are extremely important to us,” the British leader said at a press conference with German Prime Minister Olaf Scholz in Berlin, according to AFP.

Germany responded to Kyiv’s call in recent days by announcing it would send another Patriot air defense system to Ukraine. But Mr. Scholz once again refused calls to transfer long-range Taurus missiles, a weapon that Ukraine really wants but Germany fears will escalate the conflict.

“My decision is very clear,” Mr. Scholz said about not supplying Taurus to Ukraine. “But I have also decided very clearly that we will continue to be the biggest supporter of Ukraine in Europe,” he added.

President Biden signed the law on aid to Ukraine

US President Joe Biden on April 24 signed into law bills passed by both houses of Congress, including more than $60 billion in aid to Ukraine, officially ending months of legislative deadlock in Washington in an effort to force to help Kyiv.

The night before, the US Senate passed bills that had passed the House of Representatives last weekend.

TASS news agency on April 24 quoted a statement from the press agency of the Russian Investigative Committee saying that Russian Deputy Minister of Defense Timur Ivanov was arrested on suspicion of accepting bribes.

“Russian Deputy Defense Minister Timur Vladimirovich Ivanov was arrested on suspicion of committing a crime under part 6, article 290 of the Russian Criminal Code (receiving bribes),” the statement revealed. A court in Moscow ordered Mr. Ivanov to be detained until June 23.

According to Reuters, an anonymous Russian source said Mr. Ivanov is a close ally of Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and the arrest is a strong blow to the minister.

Ukraine attacked Russian energy facilities

Defense sources in Kyiv confirmed on April 24 that Ukrainian drones attacked oil facilities in western Russia overnight, in Kyiv’s latest airstrike aimed at disrupting the post-war operation. Russia’s military needs.

Officials in Russia’s western Smolensk and Lipetsk provinces were the first to reveal the attacks, saying Ukrainian drones had caused fires at energy facilities.

A source in Ukraine’s defense sector confirmed to AFP that drones of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) carried out the attacks. The source did not mention the attack in Lipetsk but confirmed that two oil depots were destroyed in Smolensk.

“Rosneft lost two fuel and lubricant pumping and storage facilities in the towns of Yartsevo and Rozdorovo,” the source said, referring to the Russian state-controlled energy giant.

The source added that drones had attacked facilities storing 26,000 cubic meters of fuel and said Ukraine would continue to carry out such bombardments. “These facilities are and will remain completely legitimate targets,” the source said.