Ukraine-Russia war – live: Kyiv says supplies to Putin’s troops slowing down as it stops mass drone attack

Ukrainian men who live abroad and are fit to serve in the military should return to join the country’s armed forces next year, the war-hit country’s defence minister said on Thursday, adding that punishments could be introduced for those who fail to do so.

It represents a significant shift in Ukraine’s recruitment policy 22 months after it was invaded by Russia, and comes after Volodymyr Zelensky said the military had asked him for as many as half a million more men in 2024, but that no decision on conscription had yet been made.

Umerov said that Ukrainian men living abroad would first be “invited” to report to recruiting offices, but added that measures would be taken if they did not show up willingly.

Uzbekistan’s foreign ministry has summoned the Russian ambassador over a call by a Russian politician to annex the former Soviet republic, it said late on Thursday.

Russian nationalist writer Zakhar Prilepin, who is co-chair of the “A Just Russia – For Truth” party, said this week he believed Russia should annex Uzbekistan and other countries whose citizens travel en masse to Russia for work.

The Uzbek foreign ministry told Russian Ambassador Oleg Malginov on Thursday that Tashkent was “deeply concerned” about these “provocative” comments.

Malginov, in turn, said Prilepin’s comments had nothing to do with the official Kremlin position, the ministry said.

Millions of migrant labourers from formerly Soviet republics in Central Asia work in Russia and their presence sometimes leads to economic and ethnic tensions.

Russia‘s annexation of Crimea and later other areas of Ukraine has caused unease among other ex-Soviet republics.

The Kremlin said on Friday that improvements to Russia‘s immigration system were being prepared after the head of the Orthodox Church warned of a threat to the country’s national identity.

Kremlin spokesman said migration was an important topic and a list of instructions was being drawn up to strengthen the existing system.

Immigration to Russia mostly comes from Central Asian states that used to be part of the Soviet Union.

The issue is delicate for the Kremlin because many companies are struggling to find skilled workers after hundreds of thousands of Russians fled abroad following the start of the war in Ukraine, something Moscow calls a “special military operation.

Russia will never leave in peace any country that seizes its assets, the Kremlin said on Friday, saying it would look at what Western assets it could seize in retaliation in such a scenario.

The Kremlin was commenting on an idea being actively discussed in the West where some politicians have suggested that frozen Russian assets worth $300 billion be handed to Ukraine.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told a briefing that any such seizure would deal a serious blow to the international financial system and that Russia would defend its rights in the courts and through other means if it happened.

The Armed Forces of Ukraine has estimated Russia has lost over 350,000 troops since the beginning of the war.

Speaking in his nightly address, the Ukrainian president cited a report by HUR, the country’s military intelligence agency. “Today there was a separate report by the Main Intelligence Directorate. The enemy’s plans, the work of the Russian defence industry – there are signals that they are slowing down. We will help them to slow down even more.”

The Ukrainian president did not provide further details on a possible cause for the slowdown, whether tactical or a result of sustained pressure after a particularly intensive period of fighting on the battlefield.

Russia may sever diplomatic ties with the United States if Washington confiscates Russian assets frozen over the Ukrainian conflict, the Interfax news agency quoted Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov as saying on Friday.

The United States “must not act under an illusion… that Russia is clinging with both hands to diplomatic relations with that country,” Ryabkov said.

A video posted on social media showed a giant orange flame going skyward in the night after a drone hit a block of flats in Kyiv’s Solomyanskyi district.

The city’s mayor Vitali Klitschko also said drone fragments had set fire to a house under construction in Darnytskyi district on the eastern bank of the Dnipro River that runs through the city.

He said there were no injuries. Pictures posted online showed construction materials strewn about the site.

Serhiy Popko, head of Kyiv’s military administration, reported fragments from a downed drone had struck an apartment building in a third area – Holosiivskyi district – also south of the city centre.

Popko posted pictures showing smashed windows and heavy damage to apartments.

Russian drones targeted the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, early on Friday, injuring two people and damaging property in the city in Moscow’s latest overnight drone strike against Ukraine.

It was the sixth such attack on the capital this month and part of a larger drone swarm that targeted parts of central, southern and western Ukraine, the country’s air force said.

Ukrainian air defences shot down 24 out of 28 attack drones, it said.

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko, writing on the Telegram messaging app, said a drone had hit a block of flats in the Solomyanskyi district, south of the city centre, triggering a fire on the upper floors that was quickly brought under control.

Emergency services also said several apartments were damaged on the 24th, 25th and 26th storeys of the building. Two people were injured, including one being treated in hospital.

The incident occurred a few hundred metres from a maternity hospital.

The European Union on Thursday paid the final portion of a multibillion-euro support package to Ukraine to help keep its war-ravaged economy afloat this year, leaving the country without a financial lifeline from Europe as of next month.

The EU has sent 1.5 billion euros ($1.6 billion) each month in 2023 to ensure macroeconomic stability and rebuild critical infrastructure destroyed in the war. It’s also helping to pay wages and pensions, keep hospitals and schools running, and provide shelter for people forced from their homes.