Putin meets former Wagner chief of staff and signs conscription decree

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As battles continue between Russian and Ukrainian forces on several fronts, the Russian president signed a decree on the recall of 130,<> people for military service and met with the former chief of staff of Wagner to form volunteer combat units.

While battles continue between Russian and Ukrainian forces on more than one front, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree calling up 130,<> people for military service and met with former Wagner Chief of Staff Andrei Nikolayevich Troshev to form "volunteer units" fighting in Ukraine.

Russia's TASS news agency reported that the recruits would be called up starting in the autumn.

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The Russian president signed a similar decree in March to call up 147,<> people to serve in the Russian armed forces.

The soldiers will be called up for basic military service for 12 months, but will not be deployed to the war zone, according to Admiral Vladimir Zemlyansky, who is in charge of recruitment to the General Staff.

He added that "there are enough volunteers doing military service and performing appropriate tasks" in Ukraine.

In Russia, there are two waves of conscription annually. The General Staff said the men were supposed to return home after their military service, but could commit themselves to combat operations in Ukraine on a contractual basis.

According to official Russian figures, about 300,300 volunteers have registered for military service in recent months, and <>,<> reservists were called up during partial mobilization last year.

Putin also signed a decree allowing Ukrainian citizens to enter or leave Russian territory without visas, or on the basis of personal identity.

Volunteer Units

In another context, the Russian president met with former Wagner Chief of Staff Andrei Nikolayevich Troshev in the presence of Deputy Defense Minister Yunus Bek Yevkurov.

Troshev returned from retirement under the Ministry of Defence following an armed rebellion by the Wagner leadership on June 23.

The Kremlin said Putin had asked Trushev to oversee the formation of volunteer units that could perform multiple combat missions, especially in the area of the special military operation.

Putin said they talked about how "volunteer units carry out various combat missions, especially in the area of the special military operation, of course."

"You yourself have been fighting in one of these units for more than a year. You know what it is and how it is done, and you know the problems that need to be solved urgently so that hostilities go in the best and most successful ways."

The Russian president also made it clear that he also wants to discuss social welfare for those who take part in the fighting.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told RIA news agency that Troshev "now works at the Ministry of Defense".

Russia's Kommersant newspaper reported that a few days after Wagner's rebellion, Putin offered its fighters to continue fighting but suggested that Commander Troshev take over from Legeny Prigozhin.

Thwarting attacks

On the ground, the Russian Ministry of Defense announced the foiling of a Ukrainian attack and the destruction of 11 drones in the airspace of the Russian provinces of Kaluga and Kursk in the past hours, without referring to the material losses as a result of the attack.

On the Ukrainian side, the army announced that 3 people were killed and 5 wounded in a Russian bombardment that targeted the city of Kherson, in the south of the country.

He said Russian attacks had targeted 140 towns in the past 24 hours in the Chernihiv provinces, Sumy, Kharkiv, Lugansk, Donetsk, Zaparozhya and Kherson.

The Ukrainian military said it had engaged in more than 20 engagements with Russian forces and confirmed that it was continuing its operations towards Pakhmut.

On the southern axis of Zabarozhia, the Ukrainian army said its operations towards the city of Militopol were continuing.

On the other hand, Reuters quoted the European Defense Agency as saying that 7 countries in the European Union have placed orders for the purchase of ammunition in order to supply it to Ukraine.

The European Defence Agency said the purchase orders related to 155mm artillery shells.

These requests constitute a swift procedure for the IAEA to supply ammunition to Ukraine, and the IAEA did not disclose the names of the States concerned, nor the value of the contracts.