KYIV, Ukraine — Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a law granting debt forgiveness to new army recruits who enlist to fight in Ukraine.
The measure, whose final version appeared on a government website Saturday, underscores Russia’s needs for military personnel in the nearly three-year war, even as it fired a new intermediate-range ballistic missile last week.
On Sunday, The Associated Press saw the wreckage of Russia’s new experimental missile.
In light of the missile strike, U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for national security adviser, Mike Waltz, said Sunday that the incoming administration wants “to get both sides to the table” and is concerned about escalation.
Waltz made clear on “Fox News Sunday” that he has met with President Joe Biden’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, to discuss U.S. policy and options in Ukraine, and the Florida congressman assured that those conversations will continue.
“For our adversaries out there that think this is a time of opportunity, that they can play one administration off the other, they’re wrong,” Waltz said. “We are hand in glove. We are one team with the United States in this transition.”
Waltz seemed to endorse Biden’s decision to send antipersonnel mines for Ukraine forces to use in the conflict: “It is a step towards somewhat solidifying the lines, and we also needed to stop Russian gains.”
The congressman also emphasized Trump’s desire for the conflict to end quickly.
Trump, who has praised Putin over the years, avoided throughout the campaign setting conditions for an end to the conflict, suggesting that he would be open to considerable annexations of Ukraine. Waltz avoided discussing any terms Trump might pursue once he takes office.
On Sunday, Ukraine’s Security Service showed the wreckage of the new experimental ballistic missile, which struck a factory in the central Ukrainian city of Dnipro.
The fragments of the missile called Oreshnik — Russian for hazel tree, and which the Pentagon said is based on Russia’s RS-26 Rubezh intercontinental ballistic missile — have not been analyzed yet, according to security officials on site in an undisclosed location in Ukraine.
Charred, mangled wires and an ashy airframe the size of a large snow tire was all that remained of the weapon, which can carry either conventional or nuclear warheads.
Ukraine’s Main Intelligence Directorate said the missile was fired from the 4th Missile Test Range, Kapustin Yar, in Russia’s Astrakhan region and flew for 15 minutes before striking Dnipro. The missile had six warheads, each carrying six submunitions. The peak speed was 11 Mach.
On Putin’s debt forgiveness, the Russian state news agency Interfax said the new legislation allows those signing up for a one-year contract to write off bad debts of up to $96,000. The law applies to debts for which a court order for collection was issued and enforcement proceedings had commenced before Dec. 1, 2024.