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Vladimir Putin approves plans to ramp up military spending despite challenges for Russia’s economy
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Vladimir Putin has approved plans for record Russian military spending in 2025, as Moscow’s forces continue their intense push for territory in Ukraine.
The plans, already approved by Russian parliamentarians, earmark nearly 3trn roubles (£99.5bn) for spending on “national defence”, despite talk of possible peace negotiations once Donald Trump returns to the White House in January.
Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky suggested on Friday he would temporarily cede Ukrainian territory to Russia in exchange for Ukraine’s controlled lands being quickly taken “under the Nato umbrella” to end “the hot phase of the war”, with the rest later regained “in a diplomatic way”.
Describing Mr Zelensky’s remarks as “actually quite a major concession”, the UK’s former ambassador to Russia, Sir Tony Brenton, warned that a Nato membership for Ukraine is “frankly going to be very, very difficult”.
But leading Russia expert Dr Mark Galeotti told The Independent that Mr Zelensky’s comments could be an attempt to “call the West’s bluff”, adding: “In effect he is asking, ‘If not the Article 5 security guarantee [which obliges the alliance to defend members under attack], what else could be offered?’”
A child was killed in a Ukrainian drone attack in Russia’s Bryansk region, governor Alexander Bogomaz has alleged.
Russia’s defence ministry said 29 Ukrainian drones were shot down overnight into Sunday in four regions of western Russia – 20 over the Bryansk region, seven over the Kaluga region, and one each over the Smolensk and Kursk regions.
Russia has suffered another day of heavy losses, with 1,730 casualties in the past 24 hours, Ukraine’s military has claimed.
As Moscow continues its push for territory in Ukraine’s east, where its troops are making some of the fastest gains of the war so far, albiet at great cost, the general staff Ukraine’s armed forces said it had recorded nearly 225 combat clashes along the front line on Saturday.
It comes after Ukraine said Russia had inflicted a similar number of casualties – which does not distinguish between those killed and inured – on Saturday, and more than 2,000 on Thursday, which would mark the worst single day Russia has suffered in its 33-month invasion.
Russian losses have for weeks been consistently among the highest of the war so far, with around 1,500 casualties each day, Ukrainian and Western military chiefs have said.
Three people have died and seven more were injured when a Russian drone struck a minibus in the southern city of Kherson on Sunday morning, regional governor Oleksandr Prokudin has said.
Meanwhile, the number of people injured in a missile strike in Dnipro in central Ukraine on Saturday rose to 24, with seven in a serious condition, governor Serhiy Lysak said. Four people were killed in the attack.
Ukraine’s air force said it had shot down 32 of 78 drones fired overnight by Russia, with a further 45 “lost” over various areas, likely due to being electronically jammed.
Vladimir Putin has approved plans which raise 2025 military spending to record levels, with 13.5trn roubles £99.5bn) – nearly a third of the budget posted on a government website – allocated for national defence.
Politicians in both houses of the Russian parliament have already approved the plans over the past 10 days.
The increase in military spending – from a reported 28.3 to 32.5 per cent of Russia’s budget – comes despite discussions over US president-elect Donald Trump’s desire to bring the war to a rapid end.
European Council president Antonio Costa and Kaja Kallas, the EU’s foreign policy chief, have arrived in Kyiv, using the first day in their new roles to send a message of support for Ukraine.
“From day one of the war, the EU has stood by the side of Ukraine,” Mr Costa posted on X alongside an image of himself, Kallas and EU enlargement chief Marta Kos arriving via train.
“From day one of our mandate, we are reaffirming our unwavering support to the Ukrainian people.”
“In my first visit since taking up office, my message is clear: the European Union wants Ukraine to win this war,” Kallas wrote on X. “We will do whatever it takes for that.”
As prime minister of Estonia, which borders Russia, Ms Kallas emerged as one of the fiercest critics of Russia, and Moscow has since put her on a wanted list for destroying Soviet-era monuments.
Mr Costa, a former prime minister of Portugal, said at a ceremony in Brussels on Friday that everyone, “especially the embattled and heroic Ukrainian people”, is yearning for peace after more than 1,000 days of the Ukraine-Russia war, but said: “Peace cannot mean capitulation. Peace must not reward the aggressor.”
More than 100,000 soldiers have deserted the Ukrainian army, Ukraine’s prosecutor general has said, starving Kyiv of desperately needed manpower and crippling its battle plans at a crucial time in its war with Russia.
Facing every imaginable shortage, tens of thousands of Ukrainian troops, tired and bereft, have walked away from combat and front-line positions to slide into anonymity, soldiers, lawyers and Ukrainian officials have told the Associated Press.
Entire units have abandoned their posts, leaving defensive lines vulnerable and accelerating territorial losses, military commanders and soldiers said. Some take medical leave and find themselves unable to bring themselves to return. Others clash with commanders and refuse to carry out orders, sometimes in the middle of firefights.
Nearly half of the 100,000 peope charged have deserted in the last year alone, after Kyiv launched an aggressive mobilisation drive that government officials and military commanders concede has largely failed.
There were an estimated 300,000 Ukrainian soldiers engaged in combat before the mobilisation drive began. One politician with knowledge of military matters estimated the actual number of deserters could be as high as 200,000.
Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky has replaced the commander of the military’s land forces, putting Major General Mykhailo Drapatyi in charge as he warned that “internal changes” were needed.
The 42-year-old replaces Lieutenant General Oleksandr Pavliuk, who took the helm of the land forces in a major shake-up in February.
“The main task is to increase noticeably the combat efficiency of our army, ensure the quality of servicemen training, and introduce innovative approaches to people management in Ukraine’s Armed Forces,” Zelensky said.
“The Ukrainian army needs internal changes to achieve our state’s goals in full,” he said on Telegram after meeting his top military and government officials.
Mr Drapatyi is well respected in the army and military analysts praised his appointment. He took command of the Kharkiv front in May and managed to stop the Russian offensive in the northeast, stabilising the front.
One child died in Russia’s western Bryansk region following a massive Ukrainian drone attack, the local governor Alexander Bogomaz said on Sunday in a post on the Telegram messaging app.
Bogomaz said the attacks completely destroyed one house in the Starodubsky municipal district.
According to a Telegram channel called Mash, an 11-year-old boy died after a drone hit a five-story residential apartment in the region.
The Russian defence ministry said its air defences destroyed 29 Ukrainian drones overnight, including 20 in the Bryansk region, seven in Kaluga region, and one each in Smolensk and Kursk regions.
The strikes come after Russia launched a record number of drones targeting Ukraine on Tuesday, cutting power to much of the western region of Ternopil and damaging residential buildings in the Kyiv region.
Russian and Chinese strategic bombers conducted a joint air patrol over the Sea of Japan, East China Sea, and Western Pacific Ocean, the Russian defence ministry said.
Russian Tu-95MS and Chinese H-6K strategic bombers conducted an eight-hour patrol accompanied by fighter jets from both countries.
The Russian aircraft took off from and landed at an airfield in China. The Russian ministry said that the flights did not violate the airspace of any foreign country and were not directed against any specific nations.
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