Russia’s attempts at escalation via Belarus, where it has delivered more nuclear weapons and held highly publicised joint war games, come as its ground war falters in Ukraine.Ukrainian commander-in-chief Oleksandr Syrskii told Militarnyi magazine that Ukraine has seized the tactical initiative, as Ukrainian offensive assaults on Russian positions now outnumber Russian assaults on Ukrainian positions.Recommended Stories list of 4 itemsend of listUkraine’s forces have been able to do this because Russian forces are running out of soldiers to conduct offensive operations, he said.“Since the beginning of 2026, the total losses of the enemy have already exceeded 141,500 people, of which more than 83,000 are irreversible,” Syrskii wrote on his Telegram messaging channel.Ukraine’s Foreign Intelligence Service believes Russia is unable to replenish these losses of more than 1,000 people a day, and this year is recruiting at a rate of 800-930 a day, suffering a net decrease of battlefield strength.In response, it said, 40 Russian regions had increased sign-up bonuses by between 30 and 100 percent. (Al Jazeera)In a bid to boost Russia’s army, Putin has simplified citizenship procedures for Russian speakers in the Transnistrian region of Moldova.“Russia is looking for new soldiers in this way,” said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who said he had received information that Russia was trying to mobilise an additional 100,000 soldiers.“We believe that currently, such potential for covert mobilisation in Russia is lacking,” he said. Advertisement On Friday, Russia blamed Ukraine for deadly attacks in the part of Luhansk it controls. At the time of writing, four people had reportedly been killed.Ukraine’s war on Russian oil and hardwareRussia’s economy is also fraying, said Ukraine’s Fo …
