Kiev is also encouraging its compatriots abroad to join the army as the country suffers another wave of attacks with multiple deaths and dozens of drones shot down by Ukrainian anti-aircraft aircraft. While Moscow, which the US says has received new North Korean military supplies, claims to have recaptured areas along the front line and calls the Ukrainian counteroffensive a failure. “All Ukrainian men of military age between 25 and 60 must report to the armed forces recruiting centers. We want justice for all because it affects our country. We will send them an invitation,” Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov said in an interview with Die Welt. As President Volodymyr Zelensky announced in recent days, Kiev aims to mobilize a force of 450,000 to 500,000 new conscripts to initiate the rotation of troops at the front and has given the arduous task of drawing up a plan to Umerov and Chief of General Staff Valerii Zaluzhnyi . However, the idea of recruiting Ukrainians abroad seems very ambitious, so Umerov referred to unspecified measures against those who do not voluntarily accept the invitation. Sentences that his own ministry then softened by emphasizing that there was no real plan yet, and that Umerov's words needed to be inserted into a more general context linked to the need to understand the importance of joining the armed forces during the war to understand demands his blood every day. In the last 24 hours, two women were killed by Russian artillery fire in Nikopol, while an airstrike on two coal mines in Torestk, Donetsk, reported at least three dead and six injured. Here the explosions caused a long blackout, trapping 32 miners in the bowels of the mine, who were later rescued by emergency services. A death toll that could have been even more dramatic if 34 of the 35 Russian drones launched against targets in 12 regions of the country had not been shot down by Ukrainian anti-aircraft fire. On the other hand, Moscow claims that Russian troops in Ukraine are “constantly expanding the zones under their control in all directions” along the entire battle line, while simultaneously conducting “successful active defense.” The announcement came from Russian Chief of General Staff General Valery Gerasimov as he received military attachés from foreign embassies for the year-end budget. “The much-touted counteroffensive by Ukraine and its NATO allies has failed,” he argued. “The increase in deliveries of Western weapons to Kiev and the use of strategic reserves in combat decided by the Ukrainian command have not changed the situation on the ground,” but “only increased the number of losses of units of the Ukrainian Armed Forces,” he concluded the general. What is certain is that the Russians can now count on North Korea's help: According to a US report, more than a thousand containers full of military equipment and ammunition have already arrived from Kim Jong-un's regime. In many cases these are poor quality bullets, but the Russians can't be picky with half-empty arsenals.
