Shooting up a Russian draft office….
Snowden is given Russian citizenship…
Missile strikes into the Ukraine continue….
The fighting goes on….(No new updates though)
American hundres of millions to support Ukraine law enforcement on the way…
Here’s what we know:
A shooting in Siberia reflected growing anger over Russia’s mobilization of civilians, as its army struggles in Ukraine. Edward Snowden, who has lived in Russia since 2013, had his request for citizenship granted by the Kremlin.
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A recruitment officer was wounded in the latest attack on a Russian draft office.
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Edward Snowden is granted Russian citizenship nine years after fleeing the United States.
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Russia’s draft sweeps up Crimean Tatars and other marginalized groups, activists say.
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Ukraine denounces reports of prisoners of war being forced to vote in Russia’s staged referendums.
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A Putin ally acknowledges he is the founder of the Wagner mercenary group.
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‘We didn’t know where else to go’: Ukrainians displaced by a counteroffensive seek shelter.
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An Ukrainian soldier whose bracelet made him a symbol receives posthumous honors….
A number of attacks on Russian authorities have been reported since President Vladimir Putin’s announcement of a partial call-up of troops to join his struggling seven-month war in Ukraine.
In a statement on Monday, Russian authorities said that a 25-year-old male individual opened fire at a military registration and enlistment office in Ust-Ilimsk, resulting in a Kremlin military commander being critically wounded….
Here’s the latest on the war and its ripple effects across the globe.
Key developments
- A gunman was detained after he shot and severely wounded an official overseeing Russia’s military mobilization at a commissariat in the Irkutsk region in Siberia, the area’s governor, Igor Ivanovich Kobzev, said Monday on Telegram. The official, Alexander Eliseevan, is in “critical condition” and undergoing emergency medical treatment, the governor said. According to local news outlets, the alleged gunman’s mother said his best friend had been called up to fight despite having never served in the army.
- The Kremlin acknowledged that some Russians who do not meet the current criteria for military mobilization have received summons, and it pledged to rectify any errors. Presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Monday: “There have been cases of violations of the order. In some regions, governors are working hard to fix the situation.” Peskov also said that “no decisions” have yet been made to close Russia’s borders to prevent military-age men from fleeing, despite media reports in recent days that a decision was imminent.
- The United States will send $457.5 million in new aid to Ukraine, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced Monday. The funds will go toward bolstering the capacity of Ukrainian law enforcement and criminal justice institutions, he added.
- Protesters blocked a highway on Sunday and took to the streets in Dagestan, a largely impoverished Russian republic that borders Georgia and Azerbaijan, to oppose the call-up of reservists to Russia’s armed forces. Videos posted on Twitter by the independent Russian outlet Mediazona show people shouting, “No war!” and “Our children are not fertilizer!” on a busy street interspersed with police vehicles and officers. At least 100 people in the region were arrested, according to OVD-Info.
- Britain announced it would sanction Russian officials involved in staged referendums: 92 sanctions were imposed on Monday, with top Russian officials, oligarchs and what was described as “Putin’s favorite PR agency” all facing financial restrictions, according to a statement released on Monday. Zelensky had earlier said the Kremlin could punish those who refuse to vote. “Russians can turn off their electricity and won’t give them an opportunity to live a normal human life,” he said of potential dissidents on CBS’s “Face the Nation” on Sunday.
Battleground updates
- Reservists mobilized in Russia are likely to receive “minimal” training before being deployed to Ukraine, Britain’s Defense Ministry said Monday in its daily intelligence assessment. The ministry said the partial military mobilization announced by Putin represents “an administrative and logistical challenge,” as a deficit of military trainers means fighters who largely have not had recent combat experience will be sent to the front unprepared, which is likely to lead to a “high attrition rate.”
- The United States is having an “ongoing conversation” with Ukraine about the weapons it needs to fight Russia, including Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS), Blinken said in a “60 Minutes”interview that aired Sunday. Earlier this month, Russia’s Foreign Ministry warned the United States that providing longer-range missiles to Ukraine would be crossing a “red line” and make Washington a “direct party” to the conflict….