Vladimir Putin has ordered Russia’s defence industry chiefs ensure its army gets all the weapons, equipment and military hardware it needs “in the shortest possible timeframes” to fight in Ukraine. The Russian president also called for their proposals on “addressing the problems that are inevitable” and how to “make sure there are fewer of them”. Putin’s comments in the city of Tula, a centre for Russian arms manufacturing, came just days after he pledged to give his army anything it asked for in a meeting with Russia’s top military officials.
The United States has called on Vladimir Putin to acknowledge reality and withdraw troops from Ukraine after he used the word “war” to describe the conflict in Ukraine. Putin on Thursday publicly acknowledged the situation as a “war” for the first time since the February invasion, previously calling his campaign a “special military operation”. A state department spokesperson said: “Finally, after 300 days, Putin called the war what it is.” A Russian opposition politician, Nikita Yuferev, has filed a legal challenge over Putin’s use of the word “war”.
Russian forces have been demolishing a theatre in occupied Mariupol in southern Ukraine that was the site of a deadly airstrike believed to have killed hundreds of civilians, according to an aide to the city’s exiled Ukrainian mayor. Ukraine’s culture minister, Oleksandr Tkachenko, said the move was an “attempt to hide forever the evidence of the deliberate killing of Ukrainians by Russians”. Video posted on Ukrainian and Russian websites on Friday showed heavy equipment taking down much of the building. An Amnesty International investigation concluded Russian forces committed a war crime by deliberately targeting the building.
Iran is seeking to expand the supply of advanced weapons to Russia, the head of Israel’s Mossad spy agency has said, according to local media. The warning from David Barnea comes after the US this month expressed alarm over a “full-scale defence partnership” between Tehran and Moscow.
Russian forces shelled the recently liberated Kherson region 61 times on Thursday, killing one person and injuring two, said the head of the eastern Ukrainian region’s military administration, Yaroslav Yanushevych. About half the strikes hit Kherson city, striking residential blocks, educational institutions and private houses, he said, while a kindergarten was also affected. Two civilians were killed in shelling of the city on Friday morning, according to the regional prosecutor’s office.