In push for more Ukraine troops, city of Moscow hikes pay for contract soldiers to $60,000 a year

In push for more Ukraine troops, city of Moscow hikes pay for contract soldiers to $60,000 a year
Residents of Moscow who sign up to fight in Ukraine will receive a down payment of 1.9 million roubles ($21,777) from the city, taking their annual pay in their first service year to 5.2 million roubles ($59,600), the mayor's office said on Tuesday. (AP/File)
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Updated 23 July 2024
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In push for more Ukraine troops, city of Moscow hikes pay for contract soldiers to $60,000 a year

In push for more Ukraine troops, city of Moscow hikes pay for contract soldiers to $60,000 a year
  • The increase means that annual pay for Russian contract soldiers from Moscow will exceed Russia’s average nominal wage more than five-fold
  • Generous payments for volunteers have helped Russia avoid a new nationwide mobilization

MOSCOW: Residents of Moscow who sign up to fight in Ukraine will receive a down payment of 1.9 million roubles ($21,777) from the city, taking their annual pay in their first service year to 5.2 million roubles ($59,600), the mayor’s office said on Tuesday.
Total pay will include the downpayment, wages from the defense ministry, as well as regional and federal handouts, the office of Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said in a statement.
The new payments will enter into force immediately, it said.
The increase means that annual pay for Russian contract soldiers from Moscow will exceed Russia’s average nominal wage more than five-fold, based on statistical data for the first quarter of 2024.
Generous payments for volunteers have helped Russia avoid a new nationwide mobilization after a troubled campaign in 2022 led to a mass exodus of people to neighboring countries.
However, some economists say the payments create risky imbalances.
They argue that high wages for soldiers serving in Ukraine have become a benchmark for the rest of the economy, leading to a wage growth spiral across sectors as workers demand increases to bring their wages more into line with what the army pays.
Russian officials say about 190,000 people have so far volunteered this year to fight in Ukraine, in what Moscow describes as a “special military operation.” That, they say, compares with 490,000 contracts signed in 2023.
The City of Moscow, where much of Russia’s educated workforce is concentrated, has been seen as lagging behind many other regions in the number of volunteers joining the army as a percentage of the total population. There is no official data on the number of volunteers from Moscow but city officials put the total number of Muscovites fighting in Ukraine as of June 13 at 45,000.


US defense chief pauses cyber offensive against Russia: reports

US defense chief pauses cyber offensive against Russia: reports
Updated 7 sec ago
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US defense chief pauses cyber offensive against Russia: reports

US defense chief pauses cyber offensive against Russia: reports
  • The order was part of an overall reevaluation of US operations against Moscow, , according to the New York Times
  • Reported change comes as US President Donald Trump has been pushing for negotiations to end the war in Ukraine
WASHINGTON: US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has ordered a pause on all of the country’s cyber operations against Russia, including offensive actions, multiple US media reports said on Sunday.
The order was part of an overall reevaluation of US operations against Moscow, according to the New York Times, with the duration or extent of the pause unclear.
The Pentagon declined to comment when queried by AFP.
“Due to operational security concerns, we do not comment nor discuss cyber intelligence, plans, or operations,” a senior defense official said.
“There is no greater priority to Secretary Hegseth than the safety of the Warfighter in all operations, to include the cyber domain.”
The reported change comes as US President Donald Trump has been pushing for negotiations to end the war in Ukraine, and days after the US leader berated his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelensky, in a stormy White House meeting.
Western countries have accused the Kremlin of masterminding a string of incidents aimed at trying to undermine support for Ukraine as it battles Russia’s invasion.
Trump, meanwhile, has cast himself as a mediator between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Zelensky, sidelining Kyiv and Europe while pursuing rapprochement with Putin.
“We should spend less time worrying about Putin,” Trump posted on his Truth Social platform late Sunday.
US National Security Adviser Mike Waltz, speaking Sunday to broadcaster CNN about reopening links to Russia, denied reports of the cyber policy change.
“That has not been part of our discussions,” Waltz said. “There will be all kinds of carrots and sticks to get this war to an end.”

Ukraine ready to sign minerals deal: Zelensky

Ukraine ready to sign minerals deal: Zelensky
Updated 03 March 2025
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Ukraine ready to sign minerals deal: Zelensky

Ukraine ready to sign minerals deal: Zelensky
  • The US leader had previously said the proposed minerals deal would be “very fair”

LONDON: Ukraine is ready to sign a minerals deal with the United States, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told UK media on Sunday.
“The agreement that’s on the table will be signed if the parties are ready,” he told a late-night huddle with some UK media after a landmark summit in London.
The deal, which was supposed to be a step toward helping to end the conflict in Ukraine, fell through on Friday after a televised Oval Office clash with US President Donald Trump.
“It is our policy to continue what happened in the past, we’re constructive,” Zelensky said, quoted by the BBC.
“If we agreed to sign the minerals deal, we’re ready to sign it.”
Zelensky had traveled to Washington for a full White House visit on Friday to sign a US-Ukrainian deal for the joint exploitation of Ukraine’s vast mineral resources, as part of a post-war recovery in a US-brokered peace deal.
But in their Oval Office meeting, Trump berated Zelensky, telling him to be more “thankful” for US support in the three-year war and that without US assistance Ukraine would have been conquered by Russia.
“You’re either going to make a deal or we’re out,” Trump added. “And if we’re out, you’ll fight it out and I don’t think it’s going to be pretty.”
The US leader had previously said the proposed minerals deal would be “very fair.”
The proposal was to give Washington financial benefits for helping Ukraine in a truce, even if Trump has repeatedly refused to commit any US military force as a back-up to European troops who might act as peacekeepers.
After the heated exchange, Zelensky drove off in his motorcade shortly after having been asked to leave, without holding a planned joint press conference. The resources deal was left unsigned, the White House said.
Ukraine’s allies rallied around Zelensky on Sunday at a summit hosted by UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer who said many European leaders had pledged to spend more on security and assemble a coalition to defend any truce.
French President Emmanuel Macron, flying back from the London summit, said in a newspaper interview that France and Britain wanted to propose a partial one-month truce with Russia.
 

 


Drone hits apartment building in Ukraine’s Kharkiv, injures seven, mayor says

Drone hits apartment building in Ukraine’s Kharkiv, injures seven, mayor says
Updated 03 March 2025
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Drone hits apartment building in Ukraine’s Kharkiv, injures seven, mayor says

Drone hits apartment building in Ukraine’s Kharkiv, injures seven, mayor says
  • Kharkiv resisted capture in the early days of Russia’s February 2022 invasion of Ukraine and has since been a frequent target of air attacks

A Russian drone struck a multi-story apartment building late on Sunday in Ukraine’s second largest city, Kharkiv, triggering a fire and injuring eight people, the city’s mayor said.
Kharkiv resisted capture in the early days of Russia’s February 2022 invasion of Ukraine and has since been a frequent target of air attacks. A medical center was damaged in one of several drone strikes in the city on Friday.
Mayor Ihor Terekhov, writing on the Telegram messaging app, said the fire triggered by Sunday’s attack spread to several apartments on the top floor of the building.
None of the injured had required hospital treatment, he said. Three other residential buildings were damaged, with well over 100 windows smashed.
Emergency crews were working at the site, the mayor added.


Anti-DOGE protests at Tesla stores target Elon Musk’s bottom line

Anti-DOGE protests at Tesla stores target Elon Musk’s bottom line
Updated 03 March 2025
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Anti-DOGE protests at Tesla stores target Elon Musk’s bottom line

Anti-DOGE protests at Tesla stores target Elon Musk’s bottom line
  • Musk is taking direction from Trump to slash federal spending and sharply reduce the workforce

BOSTON: Demonstrators gathered outside Tesla stores across the US Saturday to protest the automaker’s billionaire CEO, Elon Musk, and his push to slash government spending on behalf of President Donald Trump.
The demonstrations are part of a growing backlash in North America and Europe to Musk’s disruptive role in Washington.
Critics of Trump and Musk hope to discourage and stigmatize purchases of Tesla, the electric car company that is the world’s most valuable automaker. Liberal groups for weeks have organized anti-Tesla protests in hopes of galvanizing opposition to Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency and energizing Democrats still demoralized by Trump’s November victory.
“We can get back at Elon,” said Nathan Phillips, a 58-year-old ecologist from Newton, Massachusetts, who was protesting in Boston on Saturday. “We can impose direct economic damage on Tesla by showing up at showrooms everywhere and boycotting Tesla and telling everyone else to get out, sell your stocks, sell your Teslas.”
Musk is taking direction from Trump to slash federal spending and sharply reduce the workforce, arguing that Trump’s victory gave the president and him a mandate to restructure the US government. DOGE officials have swiftly gained access to sensitive databases, directed thousands of federal job cuts, canceled contracts and shut down sections of the government, including the US Agency for International Development.
Musk’s critics say his actions defy Congress’s power to control the US budget and present a host of ways for him to enrich himself. Musk leads several other companies, notably SpaceX, which conducts launches for NASA and the intelligence community, and the social media platform X.
“Protests will not deter President Trump and Elon Musk from delivering on the promise to establish DOGE and make our federal government more efficient and more accountable to the hardworking American taxpayers across the country,” said White House spokesperson Harrison Fields.
Tesla did not respond to an emailed request for comment.
More than 50 demonstrations were listed Saturday on the website Tesla Takedown, with more planned later in March from coast to coast in the United States along with England, Spain and Portugal. News reports showed demonstrations in recent days in US cities including Tucson, Arizona; St. Louis; New York City; Dayton, Ohio; Charlotte; and Palo Alto, California.
Some Tesla owners have also reported their vehicles vandalized with spray painted swastikas amid what Jewish groups and observers fear is a rise in antisemitism.
Federal prosecutors charged a woman in connection with a string of vandalism against a Colorado Tesla dealership, which included Molotov cocktails being thrown at vehicles and the words “Nazi cars” spray painted on the building.
Saturday’s demonstration in Boston had a festive atmosphere, with a brass band playing music as protesters carried signs and chanted. Several of the signs mocked Musk and DOGE, with one reading: “Stop Elon and his despicable Muskrats.”
“This government led by Trump and Musk, it’s gone completely off the rails and we are here to stop that,” said Carina Campobasso, a retired federal worker. “And I hope they listen.”
About 300 demonstrators protested at a Tesla dealership in New York City on Saturday. Police said nine people were taken into custody but did not elaborate on the charges they faced.
Tesla’s share price has fallen by nearly a third since Trump took office, though it’s still higher than it was a year ago. Musk’s current net worth is an estimated $359 billion, according to Forbes, which calculated his 2024 net worth as $195 billion.


France, UK propose one-month Ukraine truce; European allies rally around Zelensky amid US row

France, UK propose one-month Ukraine truce; European allies rally around Zelensky amid US row
Updated 03 March 2025
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France, UK propose one-month Ukraine truce; European allies rally around Zelensky amid US row

France, UK propose one-month Ukraine truce; European allies rally around Zelensky amid US row
  • Urges European countries to raise their defense spending to between 3.0 and 3.5 percent of GDP
  • European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen warned the continent urgently had to rearm to “prepare for the worst”

PARIS: France and Britain are proposing a one-month truce in Ukraine “in the air, at sea” after crisis talks in London, French President Emmanuel Macron said on Sunday.
In an interview with France’s Le Figaro newspaper, he also suggested that European countries should raise their defense spending to between 3.0 and 3.5 percent of GDP to respond to Washington’s shifting priorities.
“For three years, the Russians have spent 10 percent of their GDP on defense,” he told the paper. “So we have to prepare for what’s next.”

Macron announced the proposal as he flew back to France from a summit in London on Sunday, during which European leaders closed ranks in support of Kyiv at a London summit, pledging to spend more on security and assemble a coalition to defend any truce in Ukraine.

Bringing together 18 allies, the talks came just two days after US President Donald Trump berated Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky at a live White House news conference.
And UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer said that Britain, France “and others” would work with Ukraine on a plan to stop the fighting, which they would then put to Washington.

 

The London meeting came at a delicate moment for war-battered Ukraine, which faces uncertain backing from Trump and is on the back foot against Russia’s three-year invasion.
And Trump’s row with Zelensky raised fresh questions over the US commitment to Ukraine and NATO.
Starmer said Europe found itself “at a crossroads in history.”
“This is not a moment for more talk — it’s time to act. It’s time to step up and lead and unite around a new plan for a just and enduring peace,” the premier said.
With no guarantee of US involvement, “Europe must do the heavy lifting,” Starmer said. Several countries were ready to help defend any truce, he added — without naming them.

Zelensky was warmly embraced by many of the summit’s attendees, including Starmer, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and NATO chief Mark Rutte.
Outside the UK leader’s home, demonstrators gathered to show their support for Ukraine, some dressed in the country’s blue and yellow national colors.
His reception in London was in stark contrast to his reception at the White House two days earlier.
There, Trump accused Zelensky of not being grateful enough for US aid and not being “ready” for peace with Russia.
Their argument, played out in front of the world’s news cameras, raised fears that Trump wanted to force Kyiv into a peace deal giving Russian President Vladimir Putin what he wants.
Starmer insisted the United States was “not an unreliable ally.” Any deal “must have strong US backing” to succeed, he added.
But after the leaders gathered on Sunday, European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen warned the continent urgently had to rearm to “prepare for the worst.”
And Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk called for the United States and Europe to show Putin “that the West has no intention of capitulating before his blackmail and aggression.”

 

Starmer and Macron have said they are prepared to deploy British and French troops to Ukraine to help preserve any truce.
But Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni — whose hard-right coalition government includes Moscow-friendly politicians — appeared to play down the possibility of Italy contributing soldiers.
“I see this as a solution that risks being very complex and probably less decisive than others,” she said.
Rutte pointed to promises from more European countries to “ramp up defense spending,” while insisting that Washington remained committed to the transatlantic alliance.
In addition to attending the security summit, Zelensky also met King Charles III at his Sandringham estate.

Friday’s row in Washington marked a change from Zelensky’s previous treatment there, where he was hailed as a Churchillian figure by the previous US administration.
Trump and his Vice President JD Vance angrily accused Zelensky of not being “thankful” and refusing to accept their proposed truce terms.
On Sunday, top Washington Republicans doubled down on their criticism of the Ukrainian leader, suggesting he may have to step down, underscoring Trump’s stunning shift in approach to the war with Russia.
“We need a leader that can deal with us, eventually deal with the Russians, and end this war,” Mike Waltz, Trump’s national security adviser told CNN.
Republican Mike Johnson, speaker of the House of Representatives, said: “Either he needs to come to his senses and come back to the table in gratitude, or someone else needs to lead the country.”
Trump has cast himself as a mediator between Putin and Zelensky, sidelining Kyiv and Europe while pursuing rapprochement with Putin.
Zelensky, though he did not apologize after the White House clash, indicated that he was still open to signing a deal on Ukraine’s mineral wealth — coveted by Trump.
The US president on Sunday shared a reposting on his Truth Social platform arguing that the mineral agreement itself would give Ukraine the security it was seeking and that “in the end, Zelensky will have no choice but to concede.”
Moscow meanwhile branded the Ukrainian leader’s Washington trip a “complete failure” and said that Trump’s changed stance “aligns” with its vision.