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Ukraine hits back against pressure to lower conscription age to 18
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Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky has pushed back against Western pressure to lower his country’s conscription age, vowing not to sacrifice young soldiers to fill gaps in equipment and training.
Mr Zelensky emphasised that Ukraine’s focus should remain on equipping its existing brigades while allies work to decisively end Russia’s full-scale invasion.
In a post on X on Monday, he seemed to reject calls from the US to lower Ukraine’s draft age from 25 to 18, saying Ukraine will not use “the youth of soldiers” to make up for its gaps in military equipment and training.
The post continued: “The priority should be providing missiles and lowering Russia’s military potential, not Ukraine’s draft age. The goal should be to preserve as many lives as possible, not to preserve weapons in storage.”
His remarks followed reports that the US had tied additional military support to Ukraine’s willingness to mobilise more troops.
Mr Zelensky also expressed gratitude to French president Emmanuel Macron and US president-elect Donald Trump after a “productive conversation” in Paris, adding that “only decisiveness” would bring the war to a just conclusion.
Ukraine‘s national railway has said it will hike freight tariffs by 37 per cent to meet significant price rises for fuel, electricity and equipment repairs in a fresh blow to farmers.
The hike comes as the embattled country tries to cope with the effects of Russian attacks.
Railways transport half of all Ukrainian goods and are vital for exports of grain and metallurgical products.
Earlier this year, the agrarian lobby UCAB said an increase in freight tariffs would hurt struggling farmers and damage production and export volumes.
The traders’ union UGA said it could only worsen the situation for farmers already suffering from falling global food prices.
“Always desire to learn something useful.”
Sophocles
The combat losses of the enemy from February 24, 2022 to December 10, 2024. pic.twitter.com/cxAIXNIrpc
Photos show members of the Syrian community in Moscow gathering outside the Syrian embassy on Monday to celebrate the toppling of former president Bashar al-Assad and to hoist the opposition flag over the building.
Assad and his family fled to Russia, where they received asylum from his longtime ally, after a lightning rebel advance ended his family’s 50 years of iron rule.
Three people were killed and 11 hurt in a Russian missile strike that destroyed a private clinic in the Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia on Tuesday, the regional governor said.
Rescuers were searching for people trapped under the rubble, he said on the Telegram messenger. One person was in a severe condition, and two medics were among the injured,
Russian occupation officials announced evacuations in Yenakiieve city in the occupied Donetsk region as reports of explosions spread on social media.
Local Telegram channels speculated about a possible missile attack in footage they posted allegedly showing explosions in Yenakiieve .
Ukraine has not commented on the incident, and Russian authorities did not clarify the reasons for evacuation.
China has started restricting exports to the United States and Europe of drone components vital to Ukraine’s defence, amid an escalating China-US trade war, Bloomberg reports.
The parts are used to build unmanned aerial vehicles, according to sources with knowledge of the developments.
Beijing is expected to impose broader restrictions on drone parts in the new year, the sources added.
Peace talks on the war in Ukraine could possibly start this winter, Poland’s prime minister said as he outlined a series of planned meetings with Warsaw seeking to play a leading role in ending the conflict.
Poland has been one of Kyiv’s staunchest supporters since Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
“As you can imagine, our delegation will be co-responsible for, among other things, what the political calendar will look like, perhaps what the situation will be like during the negotiations, which may, although there is still a question mark, start in the winter of this year,” Donald Tusk told a government meeting.
Mr Tusk’s comments come after he announced French president Emmanuel Macron will Warsaw on Thursday to give a rundown on talks with US president-elect Trump and Ukrainian president Zelensky in Paris last weekend.
Just over 44 per cent of Ukrainians trust US president-elect Donald Trump, around 10 points less than president Joe Biden, a survey by New Europe Center showed.
In comparison, a separate June poll by the Pew Research Center suggested that Hungaraians trusted Mr Trump the most at 37 percent, followed by Britain at 30 per cent and then France with 16 per cent of the population trusting him.
“This high level of support is likely due to the expectation of a clearer and more decisive policy towards Ukraine from the new US administration,” New Europe Center researchers said.
Just over 70 per cent of Ukrainians support gradual NATO accession akin to West Germany’s model, a new survey by the Kyiv-based New Europe Center.
This invitation would cover Ukraine, but the alliance’s defensive umbrella would only extend to occupied territories after liberation.
Different NATO accession pathways are gaining traction in both the West and Kyiv as Russia holds a military advantage on the battlefield and the prospect of liberating occupied territories militarily remains slim.
China’s yuan exports to Russia plunged in November, a sharp deterioration from 24 per cent growth in October and marking the first decline in four months, according to Chinese customs data.
Outbound shipments to Russia shrank 10.5 percent last month from a year earlier, the first drop since July.
Imports from Russia also fell 7.4 percent in yuan terms last month, worsening from a 4.3 percent loss in October.
It comes after Putin said that the primary challenge to Russia-China trade was mutual payment settlements, and the central banks of both countries were working to address the issue.
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