Russia Escalates as Kyiv and Zaporizhzhia Are Hit Hard

Russia signaled it is bracing for a longer war. President Zelensky said Moscow has begun a new mobilization wave and already has over 8,000 North Korean troops on its soil, with 10,000 more being vetted in exchange for military technology. Hours later Vladimir Putin signed a decree fixing the army at 2.44 million personnel, his fourth expansion order this year. The buildup came on one of the heavier strike days in weeks. Russian drones hit Kyiv's Academy of Sciences and a Dobrobut medical centre, killing one woman and wounding 24, including three children, before later strikes hit a warehouse in Obolon and a building in Solomyansky. Zaporizhzhia was also hit, wounding 32 and damaging rail infrastructure. Zelensky said Russia fired over 120 drones nationwide, killing nine, while Ukraine intercepted 70 percent of drones and 57 percent of reactive Shaheds. The barrage briefly crossed into NATO territory: a reactive drone struck Ukrainian ground two kilometres from Poland near the Yahodyn crossing, prompting Warsaw to scramble jets and briefly close the Rzeszow and Lublin airports, after an earlier drone wave over western Ukraine had already alerted Polish jets. Against that backdrop, Washington's invitation of Putin to the G20 drew unease in Europe, with Britain's foreign secretary weighing in and Poland's President Nawrocki refusing to shake his hand.