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Russia is deploying Ukrainian prisoners of war to fight on its behalf against their own country, according to state media reports. The move has attracted concern from experts, who have argued it could amount to a war crime. Russia’s state-run news agency RIA Novosti aired a video purporting to show captured Ukrainian soldiers being voluntarily inducted into the Russian army. They were seen swearing allegiance to Russia, holding rifles and dressed in military fatigues. The authenticity of the report or videos aired by RIA Novosti could not be immediately confirmed. Human Rights Watch said this could be a violation of the Geneva Convention on the treatment of prisoners of war (POWs). Captured soldiers are exempt from being exposed to combat or unhealthy and dangerous conditions regardless of coercion, according to the convention. It is “hard” to confirm if these Ukrainian soldiers have genuinely switched allegiance to Russia out of their own free will, said Yulia Gorbunova, a senior researcher on Ukraine at Human Rights Watch. “Russian authorities might claim they are recruiting them on a voluntary basis but it is hard to imagine a scenario where a prisoner of war’s decision could be taken truly voluntarily, given the situation of coercive custody,” she said. The soldiers were reportedly made a part of a battalion that went into service last month. The battalion is named “Bogdan Khmelnitsky”, after a 15th century medieval nobleman and Russian fighter who brought parts of Ukraine under Moscow’s control. The report said Russian officials have completed training of the battalion and the POWs would soon be deployed into battle. The group comprises about 70 imprisoned Ukrainian fighters from various penal colonies. The Institute for the Study of War (ISW) said the Ukrainian troops will operate under the larger “Kaskad” formation of the Donetsk People’s Republic, the name for the Russia-backed breakaway region of Donetsk in eastern Ukraine. This suggests the POWs will be fighting on the frontlines in eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia regions where Kaskad has been active, the ISW said. The entire scenario is “laced with the potential for coercion”, said Nick Reynolds, research fellow for land warfare at the Royal United Services Institute in London. A POW does not have a “huge amount of agency” and is in a “very difficult situation,” he said. According to the US-based think-tank ISW, this is not the first time Ukrainian POWs have been asked to “volunteer” for the battalion. They were housed in the Olenivka prison, which was blown up in July 2022. Russia said Ukraine had destroyed the prison in the country’s east with a rocket, but Kyiv blamed the blast on Moscow to cover up what it alleged was abuse and killings of the POWs. Russia is also trying to bolster its forces with a “conscription campaign in occupied Ukraine,” said the ISW’s Karolina Hird. Read More Blinken arrives in Seoul for talks focused on North Korea and its military cooperation with Russia Russia-Ukraine war: Putin’s ‘third wave’ advance stalls as Zelensky shows confidence Azerbaijan's president addresses a military parade in Karabakh and says 'we showed the whole world' Ukraine moves step closer to EU membership as European Commission backs talks Ukraine takes credit for the car bomb killing of a Russia-backed official in Luhansk Russia seeks an 8-year prison term for an artist and musician who protested the war in Ukraine

Volodymyr Zelensky has warned Ukrainians to prepare for an increase in Russian attacks on the country’s infrastructure. The war-time president said his country could suffer attacks similar to the ones carried out by Vladimir Putin’s troops last year. About 10 months into Russia’s invasion, a string of attacks were carried out on power stations and other plants linked to the energy network, prompting rolling blackouts in widely separated regions. “We are almost halfway through November and we must be prepared for the possibility that the enemy may increase the number of drone or missile strikes against our infrastructure. Russia is preparing for winter,” the Ukrainian president said in his nightly address on Sunday. “And in Ukraine, all our attention should be focused on defence, on response to terrorists, on everything Ukraine can do to make it easier for our people to get through this winter and to increase the capabilities of our troops.” The warning comes shortly after Russian forces attacked Kyiv in the first-ever missile attack on the capital in nearly seven weeks. Strong explosions were heard, said Kyiv’s mayor Vitali Klitschko, adding that air defence systems were able to intercept the missiles, according to preliminary information. No casualties were reported. Russian strikes during last year’s winter offensive had left millions with no water and electricity in sub-zero temperatures. Moscow has already struck Ukrainian infrastructure 60 times in recent weeks, said Ukrainian officials. Energy minister German Galushchenko on Saturday, however, said Ukraine will have enough energy resources to get through winter. “The question is how much future attacks can affect supplies,” he said. Mr Zelensky also praised “heroic” efforts of troops defending Avdiivka, under pressure from attempted Russian advances since mid-October. The fighting has reduced much of the coking plant hub to a ghost town. While the attacks on Avdiivka slowed down in the past day, they are likely to intensify in the coming days, a military spokesperson said. “The enemy suffered significant losses the day before yesterday and has to regroup,” Oleksandr Shtupun, spokesperson for the southern group of forces, told national television. The number of infantry attacks were half of levels seen earlier in the week, he said. Moscow’s forces were “more active in the Bakhmut sector and trying to recover lost positions”, said General Oleksandr Syrskyi, the head of Ukraine’s ground forces. Russian accounts of the fighting on Sunday said its forces had repelled five Ukrainian attacks near Bakhmut. Read More Russia-Ukraine war: Mystery as Putin’s state media removes update on forces - live Ukraine destroys Russian landing boats in ‘significant loss’ for Putin Ukraine’s global ‘peace summit’ deferred to next year amid war in Gaza Analysis: Ukraine’s current frontline stalemate with Russia is hurting Kyiv Ramaswamy walks back moment he calls Zelensky ‘Nazi’ at GOP debate Ukraine moves step closer to EU membership as European Commission backs talks

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Even as Ukrainian cities experience barrage after barrage of Russian strikes, Ukraine's Offensive Guard have remained unfazed, simulating scenarios they expect to find once Kyiv finally launches its much anticipated counteroffensive.