Moscow offers debt forgiveness to new recruits and AP sees wreckage of a new Russian missile

Associated Press

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a law granting debt forgiveness to new army recruits who enlist to fight in Ukraine.

The measure, whose final version appeared on a government website Saturday, underscores Russia’s needs for military personnel in the nearly 3-year war, even as it fired last week a new intermediate-range ballistic missile.

According to Russian state news agency Interfax, the new legislation allows those signing up for a one-year contract to write off bad debts of up to 10 million rubles ($96,000). The law applies to debts for which a court order for collection was issued and enforcement proceedings had commenced before Dec. 1, 2024. It also applies to the spouses of new recruits.

Russia has ramped up military recruitment by offering increasing financial incentives, in some cases several times the average salary, to those willing to fight in Ukraine.

The strategy has allowed the military to boost its ranks in the conflict zone while avoiding another mobilization order. A “partial mobilization” in September 2022 sparked an exodus of tens of thousands of Russian men, who fled the country to avoid enlistment.

The intense and drawn-out war has strained Russian resources. Putin in September called for the military to increase its troops by 180,000.

The U.S., South Korea and Ukraine say North Korea sent more than 10,000 troops to Russia in October, some of whom have recently begun engaging in combat on the front lines, piling more pressure on Ukraine’s also weary and overstretched army.

The AP sees wreckage of Russia’s new experimental missile

The push for recruits coincides with the firing of a new intermediate-range ballistic missile at Ukraine on Thursday. Putin said it was in response to Kyiv’s use of American and British missiles capable of striking deeper into Russia.

Ukraine’s Security Service showed The Associated Press on Sunday wreckage of the new experimental ballistic missile, which struck a factory in the central Ukrainian city of Dnipro.

The fragments of the missile called Oreshnik -– Russian for hazel tree, and which the Pentagon said is based on Russia’s RS-26 Rubezh intercontinental ballistic missile -– have not been analyzed yet, according to security officials on site in an undisclosed location in Ukraine. The AP and other media were able to see the fragments before they were taken by investigators.

Charred, mangled wires and an ashy airframe the size of a large snow tire was all that remained of the weapon, which can carry either conventional or nuclear warheads.

“It should be noted that this is the first time that the remains of such a missile have been discovered on the territory of Ukraine,” said an expert with Ukraine’s Security Service, who identified himself only by his first name Oleh because he wasn’t authorized to discuss the issue with the media.

Ukraine’s Main Intelligence Directorate said the missile was fired from the 4th Missile Test Range, Kapustin Yar, in Russia’s Astrakhan region and flew for 15 minutes before striking Dnipro. The missile had six warheads, each carrying six submunitions. The peak speed was 11 Mach.

The U.S. needs to “get ahead” of escalation, says incoming national security adviser

In light of the missile strike, U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s incoming national security adviser, Mike Waltz, said Sunday that the incoming administration wants “to get both sides to the table” and is concerned about escalation.

Waltz made clear on “Fox News Sunday” that he has met with Biden’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, to discuss U.S. policy and options in Ukraine, and the Florida congressman assured that those conversations will continue.

“For our adversaries out there that think this is a time of opportunity, that they can play one administration off the other, they’re wrong,” Waltz said. “We are hand in glove. We are one team with the United States in this transition.”

Waltz seemed to endorsed Biden’s decision to send antipersonnel mines for Ukraine forces to use in the conflict. “It is a step towards somewhat solidifying the lines, and we also needed to stop Russian gains,” Waltz said.

The congressman also emphasized Trump’s desire for the conflict to end quickly. Trump, who has praised Putin over the years, avoided throughout the campaign setting conditions for an end to the conflict, suggesting he would be open to considerable annexations of Ukraine. Waltz avoided discussing any terms Trump might pursue once he takes office.

“The president-elect has been very concerned about the escalation and where it’s all going,” Waltz said. “We need to bring this to a responsible end. We need to restore deterrence, restore peace and get ahead of this escalation ladder, rather than responding to it.”

In other developments:

— Moscow sent 73 drones into Ukraine overnight into Sunday. According to Ukraine’s air force, 50 drones were destroyed and four lost, likely having been electronically jammed.

— Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Sunday that Russian forces over the past week had struck Ukraine with more than 800 guided aerial bombs, about 460 attack drones and more than 20 missiles.

— In Russia, the Defense Ministry said that 34 Ukrainian drones were shot down overnight into Sunday in four regions of western Russia, including Kursk, Lipetsk, Belgorod and one over the Oryol region.

___ Morton reported from London. Associated Press writer Bill Barrow in Washington, D.C. contributed to this report. ___ Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine