September 29, 2023 Russia-Ukraine news

Fall conscription will begin from October 1 in all parts of the Russian Federation, including in the illegally annexed regions of Ukraine, Russia's defense ministry announced Friday.  

In some regions of the Far North, the conscription will begin on November 1 due to the climate differences, Rear Admiral Vladimir Tsimlyansky, deputy chief of the Main Organizational and Mobilization Directorate of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, said during a briefing.  

The departure of conscripts from collection points is scheduled to begin on October 16, he said. “The term of conscription military service, as before, will be 12 months,” Tsimlyansky said.

The conscription for military service in what Moscow claims are Russia's the new regions is regulated by a so-called constitutional law on admission to the Russian Federation, according to state news agency TASS.  

According to the law, the autumn 2023 conscription will include the annexed territories – Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia – for the first time. There was no conscription for military service last year and in the spring of 2023 in these regions, according to TASS. 

While regular conscriptions will be carried out, Russia has no plans for further mobilizations, Tsimlyansky, said.

Some context: Conscriptions in Russia happen twice per year. Last fall’s conscription began a month later than usual due to bottlenecks at conscription offices amid a partial mobilization, according to TASS. 

France is stepping up its support to Ukraine by setting up industrial partnerships between the two countries. 

Lecornu was heading a delegation of lawmakers and business leaders from various combat industries, ranging from drones, robots linked to drones, artillery, munitions and artificial intelligence. 

The French minister met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, as well as the country’s new defense minister Rustem Umerov.

Lecornu said France would “offer innovative solutions to the Ukrainian army and increasingly be in a position to make fewer transfers, but rather direct acquisitions, sometimes under French subsidy, for the Ukrainian army.”

Speaking separately to French public radio France Info, Lecornu said that "as the war is going to last, the transfer of equipment from the French armed forces - but not only the French - has, by definition, its limits.”

The defense minister said France was “going to withdraw a lot of old equipment from the French army in favor of much newer equipment, which we'll be able to give to Ukraine.”

“Nevertheless, if we want to last,” the minister said, “we need to be able to ‘connect’ French manufacturers directly with the Ukrainian army.”

“So these are also opportunities for French industries. I'm sorry to say it like that, but we have to recognize that too,” he told France Info.

Ukraine’s Security Service has confirmed that it was behind the attack on an electrical substation in Russia's Kursk region on Friday, according to sources.

The security service said the substation was struck because it provided electricity to important Russian military facilities, sources said.

The security service implied that if Russian strikes on Ukrainian infrastructure continue, then Kyiv's forces would respond in kind, sources added. 

Earlier, Kursk's governor said five settlements and a hospital lost power in the southwest region bordering Ukraine following a drone strike.

Russia’s Defense Ministry also claimed earlier Friday that its air defenses had destroyed 10 Ukrainian drones over Kursk and one over the Kaluga region southwest of Moscow.

No casualties have been reported.

Russian President Vladimir Putin met with Deputy Defense Minister Yunus-Bek Yevkurov and former Wagner commander Andrey Troshev, according to a statement published by the Kremlin on Friday.

Putin said that he wanted to discuss “social guarantees” for anyone who had fought to “defend the fatherland,” according to a partial transcript of the meeting. He also referenced a previous meeting with Troshev in which they had talked about the formation of volunteer combat units to fight in Ukraine.

Russian state news agency RIA Novosti reported Friday that Troshev "is already working with the defense ministry," citing Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov. 

Some context: Troshev is a retired Russian colonel and a founding member and executive director of the Wagner Group, according to sanctions documents published by the European Union and France.

In June, Putin proposed that Troshev command the private military group in the wake of the failed Wagner rebellion.

Following the failed mutiny, security experts predicted that the Kremlin would seek to further absorb the group into the Russian military. Earlier this week, Ukrainian officials said Wagner fighters had returned to to the eastern front, now working as individuals for the Russian Defense Ministry.

A Russian missile attack struck an infrastructure facility on the outskirts of Mykolaiv early Friday, the southern Ukrainian city's mayor said.

"Dry grass went on fire there, the fire was extinguished," Mykolaiv mayor Oleksandr Sienkevych said in a post on Telegram. 

Further details are being clarified, he added.

Five settlements and a hospital in Russia's southwestern Kursk region lost power on Friday following a Ukrainian drone strike, a regional official said.

In a Telegram post, Kursk Gov. Roman Starovoit said the region, which borders Ukraine, was “attacked en masse” by Ukrainian drones.

One drone dropped explosives on an electricity substation in the Belovsky district causing a transformer to catch fire, he said.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said Friday its air defenses had destroyed 10 Ukrainian drones over Kursk and one over the Kaluga region southwest of Moscow.

No casualties have been reported.

Ukrainian authorities are calling on ordinary Russians to oppose the forced deportation of children to Russia and help bring them home to Ukraine.

The mass deportations of Ukrainian children to Russia or Russian-occupied territories over the course of the war have resulted in the International Criminal Court issuing arrest warrants for Russia’s Children’s Rights Commissioner Maria Lvova-Belova and President Vladimir Putin. 

On Wednesday, Ukraine's state-run Freedom TV launched the "If You Know, Tell" campaign in partnership with the Presidential Commissioner for Children's Rights and Ukraine's Police child protection team, according to a statement.

The campaign is part of the "Bring Kids Back UA" plan approved by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Organizers hope to bring back an estimated 20,000 Ukrainian children who were forcibly removed from their families and trafficked to Russia or Russian-occupied territories following the invasion last year.

Individuals who decide to provide such information through Freedom TV's digital platforms or dedicated Telegram channel "are guaranteed anonymity," Freedom TV said.

Ukrainian troops are "gradually gaining ground," in their sweeping counteroffensive against tight Russian defense lines in southeast Ukraine, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said during an unannounced visit to Kyiv on Thursday.

"Today your [Ukraine’s] forces are moving forward, they face fierce fighting, but they are gradually gaining ground," Stoltenberg said alongside Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. "Every meter that Ukrainian forces gains is a meter that Russia loses."

NATO has donated billions of dollars-worth of weapons to Ukraine but it has so far stopped short of granting the country accession to the alliance, despite repeated requests from Kyiv.

Stoltenberg said Thursday NATO has framework contracts in place for more than $2.5 billion worth of "key ammunition" for Ukraine, including more than $1.5 billion of firm orders.

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Poland on Thursday denied its aircraft had violated Belarus' airspace, in response to an accusation from Minsk's defense ministry.

Tensions have risen in recent months between NATO member Poland and Belarus, a key Russian ally, with Warsaw deploying more troops at the two countries' shared border amid an increasingly volatile security landscape in Europe.

Belarus' defense ministry claimed earlier Thursday that Polish aircraft “repeatedly violated the state border” between the countries in a statement on its Telegram channel.

Belarusian forces recorded the aircraft encroaching about a mile inside Belarus' territory, it claimed.

In its response, Poland said any information provided by Belarus "must always be approached with caution and prudence, as it has often been an element of provocation and disinformed the public."