Ukraine-Russia war live: Frontline ‘very, very difficult’, says Zelensky as Putin issues new conscription order
Russia is ramping up its military recruitment before ground conditions deteriorate
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Volodymyr Zelensky has warned the situation on the battlefield against Russia is “very, very difficult” as Vladimir Putin’s invasion enters its third autumn.
“Reports on each of our frontline sectors, our capabilities, our future capabilities and our specific tasks: The situation is very, very difficult,” he said in his nightly video address.
“Everything that can be done this autumn, everything that we can achieve must be achieved,” he said.
Russia is ramping up its military recruitment before ground conditions deteriorate with the arrival of winter, ordering the conscription of 133,000 new servicemen in an autumn draft campaign that starts today.
That figure is on top of the additional 180,000 active servicemen Putin ordered in an expansion of the regular Russian army last month.
Meanwhile, outgoing Nato chief Jens Stoltenberg has said the alliance’s members should not be deterred from giving more military aid to Ukraine by “reckless Russian nuclear rhetoric”.
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Putin: Russia will accomplish “all goals set” in Ukraine invasion
Vladimir Putin has told the Russian people that its military will accomplish “all goals set” in Ukraine.
Putin was speaking in a video message to mark the second anniversary of “Reunification Day” - when Moscow officially claimed the Ukrainian regions of Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson as its own.
“The truth is on our side. All goals set will be achieved,” Putin said on Monday as he addressed the nation.
He said Ukraine’s western allies had “turned Ukraine into their colony, a military base aimed at Russia” and promoted “hate, radical nationalism” against Russia.
“Today we are fighting for a secure, prosperous future for our children and grandchildren,” Putin added.
Russia held sham referendums in the four regions on September 30, 2022, seven months after Putin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February.
Putin signed a document to unilaterally incorporate the occupied regions of Ukraine into the Russian Federation - a move which has not been recognised by any western countries.
Russia does not fully control the territories which it has laid claim to.
Pictured: Ukrainian and Hungarian foreign ministers meet
We reported earlier that Ukrainian foreign minister Andrii Sybiha was set to meet Hungarian counterpart Péter Szijjártó today.
Here are some snaps of the meeting:
US citizen pleads guilty in Moscow court to fighting for Ukraine
US citizen Stephen James Hubbard pleaded guilty to charges of mercenary activity in a Moscow court on Monday.
Mr Hubbard admitted to receiving money to fight for Ukraine against Russia, the RIA state news agency reported.
The 72-year-old was placed in pre-trial detention for six months last week, and faces a sentence of seven to 15 years if convicted.
A spokesperson for the US embassy in Moscow said it was aware an American citizen had been detained but did not offer further comment.
Prosecutors claim he was promised $1,000 a month to fight with a Ukrainian territorial defence unit at the start of the war.
There has been no independent verification of Russia’s claims.
The Michigan native has worked as an English teacher abroad for decades, his sister Patricia Fox told Reuters.
Ms Fox denied he was a mercenary and said he had no interest in fighting war. "He is so non-military," she told Reuters. "He never had a gun, owned a gun, done any of that...He’s more of a pacifist."
Mr Hubbard moved to Ukraine in 2014 and survived on a small pension. Ms Fox last spoke with her brother in September 2021, when he split with his girlfriend and was living alone.
There are at least 10 American citizens behind bars in Russia, two months after a major prisoner swap in August.
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