Ukraine-Russia war latest: Zelensky claims Putin wants Belarus to host his long-range drone basesnewsline24

Russian authorities are increasingly turning to university students to bolster its army, according to a report in the Moscow Times.

At the Lunin College of Transport Technologies, college director Maria Kirsanova recently addressed students and urged them to “defend their Fatherland”.

“Who put the fear into you? Who will protect us?” she asked at a meeting with students, which was recorded by one of the attendants and published online.

“Are you all cowards here sitting and being scared for your lives?” she said, pulling up students for what she called a fear of returning home “in zinc coffins”.

Russia has struggled to keep finding new recruits for its grinding war of attrition in Ukraine, with its casualties rising into the hundreds of thousands.

The violence being meted out in the Ukraine war is “worse than ever” more than four years after Russia launched its full-scale invasion, according to a UN official.

Rosemary DiCarlo, the head of UN political and peacebuilding affairs, said the conflict had caused “nearly 1,500 days of death, destruction and despair”, as she repeated the UN’s long-standing demand for a ceasefire.

She said at least 15,364 civilians were confirmed killed, including 775 children, and more than 42,000 others injured, though actual numbers are likely to be higher, since Russian president Vladimir Putin launched his offensive in February 2022.

“The suffering and destruction caused by the war in Ukraine can never be justified. The longer the war exists, the deadlier it becomes, with growing risks to regional and international security,” she said.

The official added that at least 188 civilians were killed in February alone, and 757 injured – a 45 per cent increase over the same period last year.

Russian forces have suffered more than 6,000 casualties in the last four days after Vladimir Putin’s army attempted a renewed offensive to capture more land in Ukraine, officials said.

Ukrainian army commander Gen. Oleksandr Syrskyi said the Russian operations were a “colossal pressure” and their forces were beaten back.

“The enemy tried to break through the defensive formations of our troops in several strategic directions at once… In total, the enemy conducted 619 assault actions during these four days,” he said.

The Russian command, he said, threw tens of thousands of soldiers into the “meat assaults”.

“Over four days of intensive assault operations, the enemy lost more than 6,090 soldiers killed and wounded,” Syrskyi said, adding that Kyiv largely managed to repel the offensive.

Ukraine’s military intelligence has “irrefutable” evidence that Russia continues to provide intelligence to Iran and such activity can only prolong the war in the Middle East, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky has said.

“Russia is using its own signals intelligence and electronic intelligence capabilities, as well as part of the data obtained through cooperation with partners in the Middle East,” he said on X after meeting the head of military intelligence.

Zelensky, later in his nightly address, said there was “growing evidence” of continued Russian efforts to funnel intelligence to Iran.

“This is clearly destructive activity and must be stopped as it only leads to further destabilisation. All decent states are interested in guaranteeing security and preventing a larger crisis,” he said.

“Markets are already reacting negatively and this is significantly complicating the fuel situation in many countries. By helping the Iranian regime survive and strike more accurately, Russia is effectively prolonging the war,” he said.

The Kremlin last week dismissed a Wall Street Journal report that Russia was sharing satellite imagery and improved drone technology with Iran as “fake news”.

Russia plans to open four ground control stations for long-range attack drones in Belarus, president Volodymyr Zelensky said on Monday, citing information from Ukraine’s military intelligence service.

Zelensky, who in recent months has repeatedly warned about Belarus becoming more involved in Russia’s war against Ukraine, added in comments on X that he had instructed the service’s chief to inform Kyiv’s partners about these plans.

Earlier in the now four-year-old war, Zelensky said Belarusian assistance had for a time intensified the damage inflicted by Russian attacks until Ukraine took action against it.

“We now have information from our intelligence that Russia intends to continue using the territory of Belarus and temporarily occupied territory of Ukraine to build ground control stations for long-range drones,” he said.

“There will be responses to this. And they will be felt,” he said.

Moscow’s shipment of modernised drones to Iran made Russian drone production sites legitimate military targets, a top Ukrainian diplomat said, urging Western powers to equip Ukraine with weapons capable of hitting those sites.

Ukraine’s permanent representative to the United Nations, Andriy Melnyk, said Russia’s support of Tehran with modernised versions of its Iranian-designed Shahed drones and other military support, meant it was now Tehran’s main accomplice in the Middle East war.

Moscow has been using the Shahed drones against Ukraine since early in its full-scale invasion in February 2022.

“The recent conflict in Iran has revealed how intertwined this crisis is with Russia’s military invasion and the Kremlin’s malign, imperialistic goals,” he told a special Security Council session on the Ukraine war.

Russia’s shipments of modernised versions of Iran’s Shahed drones, using licences provided by Tehran, marked an unprecedented escalation that would allow Iran to attack Gulf countries and US forces in the region for a long period, destabilising the region and threatening the global economy, Melnyk said.

As a result, Russian drone production sites should be considered “legitimate targets for military strikes in the campaign against the mullah regime,” he said.

Ukraine destroyed two Buk air defense systems in a drone attack in Russia’s Bryansk Oblast on Sunday.

Footage shared by Robert Brovdi, the commander of Ukraine’s Unmanned Systems Forces, shows its military striking the two systems.

Mr Brovdi said a Buk-M3 surface-to-air missile system and a transporter-loader vehicle of a Buk-M2 system were destroyed.

There is “irrefutable evidence” that Russia is providing Iran with intelligence, Volodymyr Zelensky has claimed.

The Ukrainian president said on Monday night that Russia was using its own signals intelligence and electronic intelligence capabilities, as well as data obtained through cooperation with partners in the Middle East.

“There is growing evidence that the Russians continue to provide the Iranian regime with intelligence support. This is clearly destructive activity, and it must be stopped, as it only leads to further destabilisation,” Zelensky said.

“All decent states are interested in guaranteeing security and preventing a larger crisis. Markets are already reacting negatively, and this is significantly complicating the fuel situation in many countries.

“By helping the Iranian regime stay afloat and strike more accurately, Russia is effectively prolonging the war. There must be a response.”

President Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed Kyiv’s interest on Monday, after meeting with Mozambique’s President Daniel Chapo.

However, Russian strikes have significantly impacted this, leading to a loss of about half its gas output, according to Central Bank Governor Andriy Pyshnyi.

These attacks intensified last autumn, targeting crucial gas facilities in frontline regions across northeast and central Ukraine.

Speaking on the Telegram messaging app, Mr Zelensky suggested Kyiv could offer support to the southern African nation, which is battling an Islamist insurgency, in countering its security challenges.

He stated: “Ukraine is interested in additional energy supplies. Mozambique is interested in Ukraine’s experience and technologies to strengthen its internal security and protect people from terror.” No specific volumes of gas or details of any potential deal were provided.

President Volodymyr Zelensky has said Ukraine is interested in importing liquefied natural gas from Mozambique as it struggles to meet its energy needs after years of conflict.

“Ukraine is interested in additional energy supplies. Mozambique is interested in Ukraine’s experience and technologies to strengthen its internal security and protect people from terror,” he said on Monday but did not provide any further details.

Mozambique is a major African gas producer and in January the country and TotalEnergies TTEF.PA announced they would relaunch an LNG project that had previously been halted as the country battled with an insurgency.

The project has the capacity to produce 13 million metric tons of LNG annually and is expected to make the country a major gas exporter.