Some 400 Russian convicts have arrived in Ukraine to reinforce Wagner mercenaries fighting for Moscow in the country, according to a statement from the Ukrainian military on Monday.
The recruits were brought to a field camp in the Berdiansk district of Zaporizhizhia on Ukraine's southern coast, the statement said. As many as 200 more Wagner recruits are expected to arrive soon for training at a camp in the eastern Luhansk region, it added. In March, CNN reported that Wagner's leader, Yevgeny Prigozhin, announced that he plans to recruit about 30,000 new fighters by mid-May.
At least 25 people, including three children, were injured in Russian missile attacks on Dnipropetrovsk overnight Monday, the Ukrainian region's governor said.
In a statement, Gov. Serhiy Lysak said the missiles hit a residential area in the city of Pavlohrad, damaging homes, schools and stores.
Ukraine's Air Defense Forces said earlier they had intercepted 15 of 18 Russian cruise missiles fired at the country on Monday. Ukraine's Air Defense Forces intercepted 15 of 18 Russian cruise missiles fired from the northwestern Russian Arctic and the Caspian Sea regions on Monday, the commander-in-chief of Ukraine’s Armed Forces said in a statement.
Russia has launched a fresh round of deadly missile attacks on Ukraine, according to a Ukrainian military update on Monday.
The military said the eastern cities of Kramatorsk, Kostiantynivka, and Pavlohrad were targeted in the attacks, along with the Dnipropetrovsk region.
Kyiv attacked: Earlier Monday, Kyiv officials reported that Russian missile attacks on the capital appeared to have been repelled by Ukraine's air defenses.
“Based on initial reports, all enemy missiles and drones were destroyed in Kyiv airspace by our air defense forces," Serhiy Popko, head of the Kyiv city military administration, said in a statement.
Lubinets said citizens who obtain a Russian passport “will be able to officially abandon this passport and return to normal life” once Ukraine takes back its territories.
According to Lubinets, a decree signed by Russian President Vladimir Putin that allows the deportation of residents of the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine who have not obtained Russian citizenship, "is not aimed at deporting Ukrainians," but at “legalizing forced passportization that takes place on the territories under Russian occupation.” The head of the Russian private military company Wagner has threatened to withdraw his mercenaries from the embattled eastern city of Bakhmut if they don’t receive more munitions to continue the fight.
Those responsible for weapons procurement in Russia “stopped giving us ammunition,” Yevgeny Prigozhin claimed in an interview with the Russian pro-Kremlin blogger Semyon Pegov, who blogs under the alias WarGonzo.
The pointed warnings for Russian defense officials, including Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, come as Bathmat remains heavily contested.