Ukraine-Russia war latest: Russian missiles destroy power plant near Kyiv as Zelensky says allies ‘turning blind eye’

The mother of Russia’s most prominent opposition leader after Alexei Navalny says she lives in “constant fear” that her son, Vladimir Kara-Murza, will die in the Siberian prison in which he is currently jailed – while calling on the foreign secretary, David Cameron, to intervene and save his life.

Speaking on the eve of the second anniversary of Kara-Murza’s arrest on 11 April 2022, Elena Gordon says that her worries over her son have grown much more acute in the wake of the death of Vladimir Putin’s most prominent critic, Navalny, almost two months ago.

Navalny was also being held in a remote prison colony, in the Arctic, before he was declared dead by Russian authorities.

The top general for U.S. forces in Europe told Congress Wednesday that Ukraine will be outgunned 10 to one by Russia within a matter of weeks if Congress does not find a way to approve sending more ammunition and weapons to Kyiv soon.

The testimony from Army Gen. Christopher Cavoli, head of U.S. European Command, and Celeste Wallander, assistant secretary of defense for international security affairs, comes as Congress enters pivotal weeks for voting for aid for Ukraine, but there’s no guarantee funding will be improved in time.

Ukraine has been rationing its munitions as Congress has delayed passing its $60 billion supplemental bill.

PERKS FOR VOLUNTEER FIGHTERS

The bill proposes offering financial perks for people who volunteer to fight in the army and sign an army contract. In particular, those bonuses could include a certificate to buy a vehicle and financial assistance for first mortgage payments.

The bill would abolish mandatory conscription for Ukrainian men aged 18 or older, and replace it with basic military training for all men starting from September 2025.

One new provision in the bill would allow people who have been convicted and given a suspended sentence to serve in the army. Convicts are currently banned from any type of military service.

After being mobilised, all men must undergo compulsory training before being sent to a combat area.

In some cases, authorities would be able to seize vehicles from citizens and enterprises for the army’s needs.

The bill would ban people from driving vehicles if they do not abide by the mobilisation rules. An earlier draft had proposed tough punishments such as asset freezes for such people, but that was cut after public outcry. A separate bill proposing fines for draft dodges has passed its first reading.

The bill does not set any time limit for wartime military service, meaning that soldiers who have been fighting since the beginning of the full-scale invasion still have no sense of when they will be demobilized. An earlier draft of the bill had proposed setting a time limit.

MILITARY REGISTRATION FOR UKRAINIANS ABROAD

Martial law prohibits men of military age from going abroad and there is no procedure for calling up Ukrainian men who are abroad. But the bill says that receiving consular services for things like renewing passports would require Ukrainian men to present their military registration documents.

Ukraine‘s parliament passed a bill on Thursday to overhaul its army mobilisation rules as Kyiv tries to generate fresh manpower to rotate its exhausted troops fighting Russian invaders.

The bill must be signed by President Volodymyr Zelensky before it becomes law. Here is an overview of what the changes entail.

The bill would oblige Ukrainian men between 18 and 60 years of age to update their personal data with the military authorities, allowing draft offices to see more easily who can be called up in any given region.

Military-age men would be legally required at all times to carry the registration document they are given by the draft office. Draft officers would be allowed to ask to see the document in the street.

Russian forces outnumber Ukrainian troops seven to ten times in eastern regions, Ukraine‘s General Yuriy Sodol told parliament on Thursday.

“The enemy outnumbers us by 7-10 times, we lack manpower,” said Sodol, who is commanding the troops in Kharkiv, Donetsk and Luhansk regions in eastern Ukraine.

His comments come as Ukraine‘s parliament passed a controversial law today that will govern how the country recruits new soldiers to replenish depleted forces who are increasingly struggling to fend off Russian troops.

A Russian missile attack on Ukraine‘s southern city of Mykolaiv on Thursday killed at least four people and injured five more, officials said.

“The enemy continues ballistic strikes on the south of Ukraine. Insidiously struck Mykolaiv in the middle of the day,” southern military command said on Telegram.

Private houses, cars and industrial facilities were damaged, it added.

Mykolaiv region also was targeted during Russia‘s massive overnight attack all over the country that destroyed a power plant and disrupted electricity supply for thousands of people.

The bishop for Ukraine in London has urged the UK and the US to “honour their pledges” and not forget that Ukraine is fighting Russia to save the “rule of law and democracy”.

Two years ago, Russia launched a devastating full-scale invasion of Ukraine, capturing nearly a quarter of the country and displacing more than 10 million people. There are now at least six million Ukrainian refugees in Europe, including around 250,000 in the UK.

Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Thursday that any negotiations on Ukraine without Russia were meaningless.

“We have repeatedly said that negotiations without Russia were meaningless… President Putin has repeatedly emphasized that we remain open to the negotiation process,” Peskov said.

The Swiss government will host a two-day high-level conference in June aimed at achieving peace in Ukraine, it said on Wednesday, although Russia has made clear it will not take part in the initiative.