WESTERN PERSPECTIVE
Ukraine military reports progress in south
Ukrainian military officials said on Saturday that Kyiv's forces had made progress in the south, capturing unspecified territories and claiming partial success near the key village of Robotyne.
"Tavria direction," General Oleksandr Tarnavskyi, commander of Ukrainian forces in the south, wrote on Telegram, referring to the southern front. "There are liberated territories. The defence forces are working."
He did not specify where or when the advances were made. Separately, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said they had "partial success in the Robotyne area of the Zaporizhzhia region." Reuters could not immediately verify the battlefield report.
The general staff said children were among dead or wounded civilians following a day in which Russians launched six rockets and 36 air strikes and fired 32 rocket salvo fire systems at populated areas and Ukrainian troop positions.
It said 33 combat clashes had taken place and noted that Ukraine's defence forces continued an offensive operation in Melitopol and Berdyansk directions.
** Ukraine's Odesa opens a few beaches for the first time since Russian invasion
Several beaches in Ukraine's Black Sea city of Odesa have officially opened for swimming for the first time since the start of the Russian invasion, although bathing is banned during air raid alerts, local officials said on Saturday.
Odesa, Ukraine's largest port and naval base, was repeatedly attacked with missiles and drones and the sea was littered with hundreds of sea mines following the invasion in February last year.
For the safety of residents and after incidents of mines exploding on beaches, the coast was closed.
The decision to open the beaches was made jointly by the city's civilian and military administrations, Odesa Governor Oleh Kiper said on Telegram messaging app.
He said the beaches would be open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Oleksandr, a lifeguard and a former diver who gave only his first name, said that an anti-mine net was placed in between two piers to prevent swimmers encountering shallow-water mines.
"The net will stop them. And they (mines) will also be visible from the shore under such weather conditions. Emergency workers will be notified, they will come to handle it," he said.
The opening of the beaches has been a welcome respite from the war for people swimming and sunbathing.
"I have been dreaming of going to the beach and inhaling salty air. We have been missing it a lot. But safety is a top priority," said Svitlana, a resident of the Odesa region.
RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE
Ukrainians paying up to $10,000 to escape draft – FT
Thousands of Ukrainian men have paid large sums in bribes to avoid getting drafted during the ongoing conflict between Kiev and Moscow, the Financial Times reported on Saturday.
The news comes as Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky launched a massive military purge, sacking all of the regional military conscription officials and citing the multiple corruption scandals rocking the country. The recruitment officials are set to be replaced by combat veterans, according to Kiev’s plan.
Over the course of the ongoing conflict, thousands of Ukrainians have managed to escape the draft through various schemes in a culture of corruption. Kiev banned men aged between 18 and 60 from leaving the country when it first introduced martial law in February 2022, but the move only fueled more corrupt practices. One of the most popular options was simply buying medical exemption papers for some $6,000 on average, the FT reported, citing the findings of a probe into corruption by Ukrainian authorities.
Thousands of Ukrainian men have also attempted to leave the country illegally, with some 13,600 caught near border crossings and another 6,100 apprehended at checkpoints with fake papers, the FT noted, citing the latest official figures.
Head of the Odessa regional recruitment center Evgeny Borisov, who was arrested last month, turned out to be one of the most ‘prolific’ officials involved in draft-dodging rackets. The official is now suspected of bagging more than $5 million in bribes, charging from $2,000 to $10,000 per person for various ‘options’ to escape the draft. Borisov is believed to have been using the ill-gotten money to fund a posh lifestyle, with his family procuring a €4.2-million ($4.6-mn) villa in Spain last December, as well as other luxury assets, according to Ukrainian investigators.
Apart from the ongoing corruption scandals, the Ukrainian draft effort has also been marred by the violent actions of conscription officials. Numerous disturbing videos highlighting certain Ukrainian draft techniques emerged online in recent months, as Kiev struggled to compensate for its reported heavy battlefield losses.
Multiple videos show conscription officers chasing random men in the streets to give them a draft notice, violently detaining and even beating up the would-be soldiers. Many of these conscripts were reportedly killed on the frontline just days after getting ‘drafted’ in such a fashion.
Reuters/RT