A Missile Strikes the Heart of a Ukrainian City — and Then Another

Since invading final yr, Russian forces have frequently barraged not solely civilian infrastructure that the Kremlin calls professional navy targets, but in addition civilian websites with no relationship to the conflict effort, and infrequently removed from the battlefield.

That has continued at the same time as Ukraine has waged a slow-moving counteroffensive within the south and east, forcing the Russians to pay attention extra of their energies there. The Ukrainian forces have been bolstered by in depth coaching and weaponry from the West, and by conscription that has swelled its navy.

That navy enlargement has been a supply of corruption that Kyiv is making an attempt to sort out, Ukraine’s State Bureau of Investigation stated on Tuesday, asserting that it had opened 112 instances in opposition to enlistment officers for the reason that invasion virtually a yr and a half in the past, together with 10 up to now week.

Last week, the bureau detained the pinnacle of the Kyiv District Territorial Center for Recruitment and Social Support, whom it didn’t identify, accusing the official of collaborating in a large-scale scheme to supply fictitious paperwork claiming that draft-age males have been unfit to serve and permitting them to depart the nation — for a bribe of $10,000 apiece.

Similarly, the bureau detained the pinnacle of one in every of Kyiv’s navy administration departments, additionally unnamed publicly, accusing him of drawing comparable paperwork for 3 males. Men between the ages of 18 and 60 haven’t been allowed to depart the nation for the reason that invasion, with slim exceptions, however the State Border Guard says some are arrested daily for making an attempt.

Some Western officers have voiced doubts about pouring cash into Ukraine, a rustic that has lengthy been infamous for official corruption. Mr. Zelensky has labored at sending the message that he’s assembly the issue head-on.

Gaëlle Girbes reported from Pokrovsk, Ukraine, and Marc Santora from Kyiv, Ukraine. Victoria Kim contributed reporting from Seoul, and Gaya Gupta and Anushka Patil from New York.