Heading towards World War III?

US defense companies should send their new weapons to Ukraine so they can be tested in actual combat against Russian forces, Kiev’s deputy defense minister, Vladimir Gavrilov, has said.

Gavrilov made the suggestion during a speech before hundreds of American defense industry representatives and military acquisitions personnel at the Future Force Capabilities Conference and Exhibition in Austin, Texas on Wednesday.

“If you have some ideas, or some pilot projects to be tested before mass manufacturing, you can send it to us and we will explain how to do it. And in the end you will get the stamp, proved by the war in Ukraine. You will sell it easy,” he said, as cited by the Military Times.

According to the deputy defense minister, startup companies, including those involved in anti-drone and anti-jamming equipment, have already brought new technologies to the Ukrainian battlefield.

“And they come back with a product that is competitive in the market now because it was tested in a combat zone,” Gavrilov said, without revealing the companies that have worked with Ukraine in this capacity.

His comments were made on the day Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a partial mobilization, which he said is necessary because Russia has been fighting “the entire Western military machine” in Ukraine. Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu later stated that around 300,000 reservists are planned to be called up.

In view of this shift in Russia’s tactics, Kiev will require more counter-drone and electronic warfare technologies, armored vehicles, and long-range anti-tank and precision fire weapons, Gavrilov said.

Ukraine is now almost entirely dependent on weapons supplied by the US, UK, EU, and other nations, according to Shoigu, as most of the Soviet-made hardware it had before the fighting began in late February has been destroyed by Russian forces.

Moscow has long criticized the West for delivering weapons to Kiev, saying it only prolongs the fighting and increases the risk of a direct confrontation between Russia and NATO. “The US, in fact, is teetering on the brink of turning into a party to the conflict” due to its polices, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov warned on Wednesday.

www.rt.com/news/563308-ukraine-us-weapons-testing

The Russian Defense Ministry said on Thursday that 55 Russian and Donbass soldiers have been released as part of a major prisoner exchange with Ukraine.

The freed soldiers have been airlifted to Russia and are receiving “psychological and medical care,” the ministry added.

According to the Defense Ministry, the swap occurred after “difficult” negotiations, and the detainees’ lives were “under threat” in Kiev’s custody.

Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky said on Thursday that 215 Ukrainian soldiers were released, as well as 10 foreigners who were fighting alongside Ukrainian troops. Zelensky noted that Turkey and Saudi Arabia mediated the negotiations.

According to Zelensky, Russia handed over more than 100 members of Ukraine’s Azov Battalion, whose ranks include fighters with openly nationalist and neo-Nazi views. Zelensky said that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had agreed that several top Ukrainian commanders would be under his “protection.”

The prisoner exchange was confirmed a day after Russian President Vladimir Putin declared a partial mobilization of reservists.

Meanwhile, the Donbass republics of Donetsk and Lugansk, as well as two Russian-controlled Ukrainian regions, are gearing up for referendums on joining Russia. The vote is expected to take place between Friday and Tuesday.

www.rt.com/russia/563309-russian-mod-number-soldiers-swapped-kiev

Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) head Denis Pushilin has confirmed that Kiev has released former Ukrainian opposition leader Viktor Medvedchuk as part of a large prisoner swap with Russia.

The Ukrainian authorities charged Medvedchuk with treason last year and banned his party, Opposition Platform – For Life, after Russia launched its military operation in the neighboring country in February.

Speaking to reporters on Thursday, Pushilin praised Medvedchuk for his role in mediating past prisoner exchanges between Ukraine and the DPR. “With Medvdchuk’s participation, more than a thousand of your lads were freed. They wouldn’t have survived in the conditions [of captivity in Ukraine],” he said.

Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky revealed on Thursday that 215 Ukrainian soldiers were released, among them more than 100 members of the Azov Battalion, whose ranks include fighters with openly nationalist and neo-Nazi views.

“They are war criminals. We understand it perfectly. But our goal was to have our lads returned as soon as possible,” Pushilin said.

The Russian Defense Ministry reported earlier that 55 Russian and Donbass soldiers were freed as part of the swap.

www.rt.com/russia/563326-ukrainian-party-leader-freed

Artillery shells fired at Donetsk by Ukrainian forces on Thursday landed in the vicinity of the main city market, Mayor Alexey Kulemzin has reported.

At least six people were killed in the attack and six others injured, the city chief said. One of the injured victims was identified as a teenager.

The Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) defense force released footage of what they said was the aftermath of the Ukrainian attack. It showed a heavily damaged bus in a street and what appeared to be a dead man in civilian clothes lying next to it in a pool of blood. More apparent civilian victims can be seen in other videos purportedly shot at the scene.

Earlier in the day, the head of the administration of Melitopol, a Russian-controlled city in Ukraine’s Zaporozhye Region, reported a blast at the city market. The explosion injured six people but didn’t claim any lives, the official said.

Earlier this week, the DPR and fellow Donbass republic of Lugansk, as well as parts of Ukraine predominantly controlled by Russia, the Kherson and Zaporozhye regions, announced their intention to vote on whether they should request to join Russia.

Kiev dismissed the planned referendums and threatened any participant with criminal prosecution. Andrey Yermak, President Vladimir Zelensky’s chief of staff, responded to the news with a warning that “Ukraine will solve the Russian question,” adding that this could be done “only by force.”

www.rt.com/russia/563315-donetsk-market-shelling-referendum

A German news crew has filmed Ukrainian soldiers driving a swastika-emblazoned armored vehicle during Kiev’s counteroffensive against Russia.

The channel N-TV published a short video on Tuesday that was filmed by its journalists embedded with the Ukrainian army. The report describes the troops’ recent advances in the country’s eastern Kharkov Region, during which Kiev’s forces recaptured the city of Izium.

As the reporter interviews a Ukrainian soldier near a road, an armored vehicle drives by with what appears to be a white swastika painted on its side. Neither the reporter nor the channel explained the presence of the symbol.

This is not the first time Ukrainian troops have been spotted with Nazi and Nazi-style tattoos and insignia. The Azov Battalion, which is part of Ukraine’s National Guard, is known to have members with nationalist and neo-Nazi views among its ranks.

In May, President Vladimir Zelensky posted a now-deleted photo of a Ukrainian soldier with a patch resembling the ‘death’s head’ (Totenkopf) symbol used by Adolf Hitler’s elite SS troops.

A similar incident occurred last week when Zelensky’s office shared a photo of a presidential guard sporting a neo-Nazi patch. The image has since been removed.

www.rt.com/russia/563338-ukraine-swastika-vehicle-video

A media report claiming that the partial mobilization decree signed by President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday allows for one million people to be called up for military service has been dismissed by Kremlin Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov.

“This is a lie,” Peskov told journalists on Thursday.

Earlier in the day, Novaya Gazeta Europe, a Russian-language newspaper based in the EU, claimed that the figure was provided in an unpublished clause in the decree. The paper cited an unnamed source in the Russian presidential administration, but said it failed to obtain documentary evidence to confirm the claims.

On Wednesday, Peskov said that the secret clause, No.7, which was not made public, relates to the personnel numbers to be enlisted and is for “internal use only.” No further details were provided.

Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu previously stated that the mobilization would involve around 300,000 reservists, or just over 1% of Russia’s full mobilization potential.

Putin announced the partial military mobilization early Wednesday, saying the Defense Ministry had recommended that military reservists be brought into active service amid the prolonged conflict in Ukraine and Donbass. Shoigu explained that additional troops are required to control the 1,000km-long contact line between Ukrainian forces and the Russian-held areas.

Novaya Gazeta Europe was established by former staff members of Novaya Gazeta – one of the oldest liberal papers in Russia. In mid-September, the country’s Supreme Court revoked its license for violating regulations.

www.rt.com/russia/563348-kremlin-mobilization-size-reports-lie

Russian police have cracked down on anti-mobilisation protests throughout the country after Putin called up 300,000 reservists to join the worsening fight against Ukraine.

More than 800 people were arrested across 37 cities as they demonstrated against the mobilisation, according to OVD-Info, a human rights group in the country.

Russia has enacted harsh laws against criticising the war, which it continues to refer to as a "special military operation".

Moscow and St Petersburg were among the protest hotspots. In the capital, more than a dozen arrests were made in the first 15 minutes of a protest, as body armour-clad police tackled demonstrators and hauled some away.

"I'm not afraid. I’m not afraid of anything. The most valuable thing that they can take from us is the life of our children. I won’t give them life of my child," said one, who declined to give her name to the Associated Press.

"It won’t help, but it's my civic duty to express my stance. No to war!"

Some of the 40 protesters in Yekaterinburg, the fourth-largest city in Russia, were hauled onto a bus by police, while a woman in a wheelchair shouted of Putin: "Goddamn bald-headed nut job. He's going to drop a bomb on us, and we’re all still protecting him. I’ve said enough."

There has been a rush to book flights amid fears men of fighting age may soon be prevented from leaving the country as they try to dodge any call up. The drastic move, a major escalation, comes after a Ukrainian lightning counter attack liberated swathes of territory and made Putin's position as autocrat more vulnerable.

www.lbc.co.uk/news/russian-protests-against-mobilisation-arrests

Russia's defence ministry has revealed a host of occupations it says will be exempted from conscription aimed at boosting its war effort in Ukraine.

IT workers, bankers and journalists working for state media will escape the "partial mobilisation" announced by President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday.

Around 300,000 citizens face being called up as part of the drive.

The move has prompted a rush towards borders as young men attempt to flee to evade the draft.

Announcing the exemptions on Friday, Russia defence ministry said employers must compile a list of workers who meet the criteria and submit it to its offices.

But it accepted some sectors had to be excluded to "ensure the work of specific high-tech industries, as well as Russia's financial system".

Some commentators have observed that the text of the mobilisation decree has been left vague - potentially allowing it to be widened if necessary.

And one paragraph remains entirely classified. Kremlin Spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said on Friday this referred to the total number of Russians that could be conscripted, which he said could not be disclosed.

Earlier, the independent newspaper Novaya Gazeta had reported - citing an unnamed government source - that the redacted section allowed for a call-up of up to a million people, rather than the reported 300,000.

Others have case doubt on the truth of the Kremlin's pledges to limit the draft. Just two weeks ago Mr Peskov told reporters that there had been "no discussion" of mobilisation by Russian leaders.

And across the country, reports have been emerging of Russian men who do not meet the criteria being called up by local recruiting officers.

The Russian daily newspaper Kommersant reported that men previously exempted from service for health reasons had been called up by the local commander in the Siberian region of Irkutsk.

Elsewhere, Russian men are continuing to try to flee the country to avoid being called up by recruiters for the country's first military mobilisation since World War Two.

In the south, miles-long queues of traffic have formed at the border crossing between Russia and Georgia.

Some of those heading into the neighbouring country have used bicycles to bypass lines of cars and evade a ban on crossing on foot, with others reporting waits of up to 12 hours.

www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-63005406

The conflict in Ukraine could spiral into World War III, former US President Donald Trump warned on Wednesday, after Russian President Vladimir Putin said Moscow would use all means necessary to defend itself in the face of a threat to its territorial integrity.

Writing on his social media platform, Truth Social, the ex-president said the Ukraine conflict, which began after Russia launched its military offensive in late February, “should have never happened.”

Trump claimed that if he had still been in the White House, hostilities would have never broken out between Moscow and Kiev.

“As I have made clear for quite some time, this could end up being World War III,” he added.

On Wednesday, Putin announced a partial military mobilization of around 300,000 reservists to be called up for active service. The Russian leader also warned that Moscow “would use all the means to protect our people,” including nuclear weapons if necessary.

“This is not a bluff,” Putin insisted, saying Russia would use “all available means” to protect its independence and security.

This is not the first time Trump has sounded the alarm over the repercussions from the Ukraine crisis. In June, he criticized his successor, President Joe Biden, for the way his administration has handled the crisis, slamming the incumbent for sending tens of billions of dollars in military aid to Kiev, which, he said, only adds fuel to the conflict.

“And we’re in serious danger with what’s going on in Ukraine and with Russia. You could end up with a world war the way they’re handling it. It’s crazy what they’re doing,” he said at the time.

www.rt.com/news/563340-trump-world-war-ukraine