World
Russia's autumn conscription: How many draftees will go to Ukraine?
Tuesday marks the beginning of Russia’s latest conscription campaign after President Vladimir Putin signed a decree calling up tens of thousands for military service. How many of them will end up joining the war against Ukraine?
Some 133,000 people are about to be called up for military service in Russia as part of a traditional autumn conscription campaign, where all men aged between 18 and 30 who are not reservists and are subject to military service have to be called in for a 12-month period.
This autumn call-up, which started Tuesday and runs until 31 December, is the second routine conscription campaign since the maximum age was raised from 27 to 30.
New conscripts undergo one to two months of basic training, followed by three to six months of advanced training before arriving at their assigned units.
Current law states that conscripts cannot be deployed to combat with less than four months of training and cannot be deployed outside of Russia — therefore, to the war in Ukraine.
Yet, many of them are.
How do Russian conscripts end up in Ukraine?
Conscripts cannot legally be deployed to fight outside Russia, but very often, they end up on the other side of the border by way of signing up for professional army post-conscription.
The Russian NGO “Get Lost” supports people trying to avoid conscription, which often results in signing a contract, even unwillingly.
Ivan Chuvilyaev said that conscripts are increasingly being forced to sign contacts with the Russian military. “An enlisted soldier finds himself in a very difficult situation. In fact, he has no options not to be on a contract,” Chuvilyaev told Euronews.
He explained that at first, soldiers are persuaded to do so with arguments like “everyone has signed, but you haven’t yet, and everyone has received money, but you haven’t.”
If this doesn’t work, they are promised things, such as “If you sign, we will send you to serve in a safe region somewhere in the Urals or Siberia or close to home (and) if you don’t sign, you will go to a zone where conscripts can be sent by law.”
But even without a contract, conscripts can be sent to illegally annexed Crimea or Russian regions of Belgorod, Kursk and Bryansk — which Chuvilyaev said are not any safer than temporarily occupied territories in Ukrainian regions of Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, where fierce fighting continues on the ground.
“Finally, the main thing is that the practice of falsifying documents is very widely used. The contract is signed for the conscript (by recruiters who) put an ‘x’ in the signature box. The soldier finds out about it when he receives a bank card and documents about allowance,” Chuvilyaev explained.
Russian Defence Minister Andrei Belousov stated on Monday that the Russian MoD is not currently considering another wave of general mobilisation and is instead focused on having Russian servicemembers sign military contracts.
There is also forced mobilisation in Ukraine
Last year, Russia’s autumn conscription included residents of the occupied territories of Ukraine.
Ukrainian military’s National Resistance Centre reported in September 2023 that the so-called “federal commissariats” were created in occupied parts of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions.
Furthermore, Moscow-installed occupation administrations regularly posted announcements on Telegram channels, calling on the local population eligible for the military service to provide personal data and copies of IDs for “temporary registration” and subsequent conscription.
Euronews contacted the Ukrainian military’s National Resistance Centre for comment regarding this year’s conscription campaign in temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine but received no answer at the time of publication.
Kursk conscripts valuable assets
When Kyiv launched its surprise incursion into the Kursk region of Russia in early August, hundreds of Russian conscripts were taken POW.
Ukrainian authorities said capturing them on Russian territory helped “replenish the exchange fund”, meaning that these prisoners could be then swapped for Ukrainian soldiers held in Russian captivity.
That is exactly what happened on September 14 when Ukraine and Russia exchanged 103 POWs.
For the Kremlin, the young Russian soldiers are particularly valuable, given that in exchange, Moscow let go of 15 defenders of Mariupol and Azovstal, who spent over two years in Russian captivity.
Moscow is very reluctant to swap Azovstal and Mariupol defenders, especially those from the Azov regiment. They have been absent at most of the POW exchanges.
How many people does Moscow need?
Russian President Vladimir Putin has so far avoided declaring another partial mobilisation call-up of reservists since his decision to mobilise 300,000 troops in late September 2022 in response to successful Ukrainian counteroffensive operations.
The US-based think tank Institute for the Study of War (ISW) said Russia appears to lack the necessary manpower to simultaneously sustain the scale and tempo of offensive operations in Ukraine and defensive efforts in Russian border regions.
UK defence ministry has quoted Russian officials, who said in 2023 that the MoD was recruiting individuals at a rate of 1,600 daily. However, publicly cited figures this year put the rate at around 1,000 a day, which brings the number to 30,000 every month.
“These figures are themselves probably inflated to an extent, but they do demonstrate that the tactics based on mass infantry waves has required Russia to continuously replenish frontlines forces,” UK MoD’s intelligence update said.
Russian military bloggers claimed in late August that the Russian government continues to rely on the remnants of regular military forces, mobilised personnel, and deceived short-term volunteers to continue Russian offensive operations in Ukraine.
How much does it cost?
The Russian government submitted a bill on the federal budget for 2025 to 2027 to the State Duma on Monday.
According to it, the Russian government plans to spend €165 billion (17 trillion rubles) on national security and defence in 2025 — or about 41% of its annual expenditures.
The budget notably allocates €136 million annually from 2025 to 2027 to create a mobilisation reserve in the Russian armed forces.
The bill also calls for about €388 million in 2025 to fund the “Defenders of the Fatherland Fund,” which supports Russian veterans and their families.
World
Secret Service Agent Assigned to Jill Biden Shoots Self in Leg
A U.S. Secret Service agent assigned to former First Lady Jill Biden accidentally shot himself in the leg early on Friday near Philadelphia International Airport, according to a source familiar with the incident.
In a statement that did not mention Biden, the Secret Service said the incident occurred just after 8:30 a.m. EST and the agent suffered a non-life-threatening injury.
“There was no impact to the protectee’s movement and they were not present at the time of the incident,” the statement said.
The agent “accidentally discharged his firearm” while traveling in an unmarked SUV near the airport, Philadelphia Police Department Cpl. Jasmine Colón-Reilly said in a statement.
Emergency medical personnel responded to the scene and the agent was transported to Penn Presbyterian Medical Center in stable condition, Colón-Reilly said.
“The Secret Service’s Office of Professional Responsibility will be reviewing the facts and circumstances of this incident,” the Secret Service said.
The Secret Service is responsible for providing security to current and former presidents, vice presidents and their families and foreign leaders and is also an investigative agency.
—
(Reporting by Christian Martinez in Los Angeles; editing by Scott Malone and Chris Reese)
World
Body found in search for missing American Airlines flight attendant in Colombia: mayor
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A mayor in Colombia announced that a corpse had been discovered and was likely that of an American citizen who had gone missing.
Eric Fernando Gutierrez Molina, a 32-year-old American Airlines flight attendant from Texas, had gone missing while in the foreign country, according to reports.
“Since last Sunday, we have been searching for Eric Gutiérrez, a U.S. citizen who is missing,” Medellín Mayor Federico Gutiérrez noted in a Friday post on X, according to a translation from Spanish.
AMERICAN AIRLINES FLIGHT ATTENDANT VANISHES DURING COLOMBIA LAYOVER: ‘HIS FAMILY IS DESPERATE’
Medellin Mayor Federico Gutierrez speaks during a press conference on Dec. 19, 2025. (JAIME SALDARRIAGA / AFP via Getty Images)
“Unfortunately, a lifeless body has just been found between the municipality of Jericó and Puente Iglesias,” he noted.
“There is a very high probability that it is this person,” the mayor explained.
COLOMBIAN MILITARY PLANE CRASH KILLS AT LEAST 66, HEAD OF ARMED FORCES SAYS
Eric Fernando Gutierrez Molina (CDColExt/X)
“We are heartbroken by the tragic passing of our colleague,” American Airlines noted in a statement provided to Fox News Digital on Saturday.
‘AMERICAS COUNTER CARTEL COALITION’: INSIDE THE US STRATEGY TO COMBAT NARCO TERROR, CONFRONT CHINA, OTHER FOES
An American Airlines Airbus A321 departs from Harry Reid International Airport on March 11, 2026, in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Kevin Carter/Getty Images)
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“Our thoughts and support are with his family, loved ones and colleagues during this difficult time, and we are doing all we can to assist Colombian law enforcement in its investigation,” the company added.
Fox News Digital’s Alexandra Koch contributed to this report
World
Hundreds of thousands march through London in stand against the far right
London, United Kingdom – Hundreds of thousands of people have marched through central London in what organisers are calling the largest ever demonstration against the far right in British history.
The Together Alliance march, backed by about 500 groups including trade unions, antiracism campaigners and Muslim representative bodies, brought together a diverse crowd of all ages from across the country on Saturday, converging on Whitehall near the Houses of Parliament.
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Organisers said that half a million people took part.
Kevin Courtney, chairman of the Together Alliance, told crowds the march “gives us all confidence to carry on.”
London’s Metropolitan Police put the figure considerably lower, at approximately 50,000, though officers acknowledged it was difficult to reach an accurate figure given how spread out the crowds were.
The protest was met with a far smaller group of counterprotesters waving Israeli flags and Iran’s pre-1979 monarchical flag.
Aadam Muuse, a trade union activist, told Al Jazeera that racism and Islamophobia had moved from the fringes into mainstream politics, and was “being pushed by parliamentarians”.
He said the march was “much needed to push back against [Reform leader Nigel] Farage and his ilk,” adding that the populist party “must be defeated at the ballot box”.
Al Jazeera’s Milena Veselinovic, reporting from the march, said demonstrators were pushing back against what they saw as “the politics of hate and division” in the United Kingdom.
One demonstrator, activist and writer Hamja Ahsan, told Al Jazeera he was motivated to attend after a rally organised by the far-right agitator-activist Tommy Robinson that drew 150,000 people and was marred by violence that injured several police officers. Robinson is reportedly planning another rally in May.
“We need to show them that we’re the majority,” Ahsan said. “At a street level, the far right won’t take over our streets.”
He said the atmosphere on Saturday was akin to the Notting Hill Carnival, as the march united people from all backgrounds, “from pensioners to children”.
Museum worker Charlotte Elliston told Al Jazeera that she also feels unsettled by the far right’s creeping rise.
“You think this would never happen here, and then all of a sudden this might happen,” she said. “You see that it is getting scary.”
Several left-wing politicians joined the demonstration.
Independent MP Jeremy Corbyn posted on X that the “problems we face are not caused by migrants or refugees”, arguing they were rooted instead in “an economic system rigged in favour of corporations and billionaires”.
MP Zarah Sultana said on X, “There’s one minority we should be angry at: the billionaires funding division while working class people can’t make ends meet.”
Green Party leader Zack Polanski, Dianne Abbott and Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham were also among the crowds.
‘Historic demonstration’
The rights group Amnesty UK hailed the “historic demonstration”, saying marchers were “calling for a different vision of society – one which places dignity, compassion and human rights at its heart”.
A separate march organised by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, which assembled at Exhibition Road near Hyde Park, converged with the main demonstration during the afternoon.
Eighteen people were arrested outside New Scotland Yard on Saturday after staging a protest in support of Palestine Action, the protest group which remains proscribed under the Terrorism Act despite a High Court ruling in February that the government’s decision to ban it was unlawful.
The march comes amid rising racism as Farage’s Reform party surges in the polls.
Hope Not Hate, an antiracism campaign group, warned earlier in March that the British far right is now “bigger, bolder and more extreme than ever before”.
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