• LIVE REPORTING

Cameron Henderson

3 April 2024 • 

Russia has seen a major leap in the number of people joining the armed forces since last month’s deadly attack on a concert hall near Moscow, the defence ministry claimed.

In a statement, it said more than 100,000 recruits have signed up since the start of the year, including around 16,000 in the past 10 days alone.

“During interviews conducted over the past week at selection points in Russian cities, most candidates indicated the desire to avenge those killed in the tragedy that occurred on March 22, 2024 in the Moscow region as the main motive for concluding a contract,” the ministry said.

The Kremlin has repeatedly sought to blame Ukraine for the mass shooting – in which 144 people were killed at Crocus City Hall – a claim Kyiv and US intelligence have denied. The militant group Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack.

Destruction of Crimean Bridge is ‘inevitable’, say Kyiv intelligence officials

The destruction of the Kerch bridge connection Russian to occupied Crimea is “inevitable”, senior officials in Ukraine’s HUR military intelligence service has said.

“We will do it in the first half of 2024,” one official, who was unnamed, told the Guardian, adding that Kyrylo Budanov, the head of the main directorate of intelligence, already had “most of the means to carry out this goal”.

The officials believe that permanently damaging the bridge would significantly impair the Kremlin’s ability to carry out a spring offensive as Moscow would be forced to transport military supplies by road through occupied southern Ukraine, or via a new 450-mile railway line that is under construction. 

Ukraine has attacked and severely damaged the Kerch bridge twice since the invasion, while road and rail traffic across the bridge are frequently disrupted by the threat of further attacks.

F-16 fighter jets ‘no longer relevant’, say Ukrainian military officials

Western-supplied F-16 fighter jets due to arrive in Ukraine this summer are “no longer relevant”, a senior Ukrainian military official told Politico.

“Often, we just don’t get the weapons systems at the time we need them – they come when they’re no longer relevant,” the high-ranking officer, who was unnamed, said. “Every weapon has its own right time. F-16s were needed in 2023; they won’t be right for 2024.”

A dozen of the US-made aircraft are expected to be delivered to Ukraine in July following months of campaigning from president Volodymyr Zelensky and other senior Kyiv officials.

Kyiv’s allies hope the modern jets can push Russian aircraft farther from the frontlines, but the unnamed official said Moscow is now ready to counter them.

Instead, the officer said Ukraine now needs more basic traditional weapons as well as drones. “We need Howitzers and shells, hundreds of thousands of shells, and rockets,” he said, estimating that Ukraine needed 4 million shells and 2 million drones.