Ukraine-Russia war latest: Zelensky offers Putin land swap as one dead in Kyiv strike

Ukraine’s defence ministry has launched a new recruitment drive for young people, encouraging 18- to 24-year-olds to serve in the military for a year with lucrative offers.

Those signing up will be given the equivalent of about $24,000 and hefty bonuses.

With Ukraine’s armed forces heavily outnumbered by their Russian adversaries on the frontlines of the nearly three-year-old war, president Volodymyr Zelensky last week confirmed a new recruitment drive was about to be launched.

Ukraine’s parliament last year approved a new law on mobilisation, reducing the draft age from 27 to 25 and providing penalties for anyone avoiding the call-up.

“Change your life in a year,” a slick video on social media tells young prospects against a background of soldiers taking up positions and firing weapons.

“If you are aged 18-24, are a Ukrainian citizen and are ready for change.”

In addition to the promised remuneration of 1m hryvnias ($24,000), large bonuses were on offer plus subsidised mortgages and rents. The contract also offered a 12-month exemption from mobilisation at its conclusion.

“Time is a bonus,” it says. “Hesitation is a minus.”The posting on social media promised volunteers “professional military training to Nato standards and social benefits that you won’t find in civilian jobs”.

American schoolteacher Marc Fogel received a flag-waving welcome from US president Donald Trump at a snowy White House after a flight home after almost four years in Russian captivity.

“I feel like the luckiest man on earth right now,” said Mr Fogel, an American flag draped around his shoulders. “I’m a middle-class school teacher who is now in a dream world.

“Mr Trump, standing alongside Mr Fogel in the White House Diplomatic Reception Room, said: “To me he looks damned good.”

The release of 63-year-old Mr Fogel, who had been detained in Russia since August 2021 and was serving a 14-year sentence, came as Mr Trump seeks to improve relations with Moscow as part of an effort to secure an end to the war in Ukraine.

Mr Trump said Mr Fogel’s release “could be a big important part” of ending the Ukraine war.

He and Mr Fogel both thanked Russian president Vladimir Putin for his release. “

“We just wanted to get him back home,” Mr Trump said, adding that he would take Mr Fogel on a tour of the Lincoln Bedroom upstairs in the White House.

Mr Trump said another person would be released on Wednesday, without identifying who it would be.

He called the terms of Mr Fogel’s release “very fair” and said the US had given up “not much” in exchange, but declined to give further details.

Read Mike Bedigan and Rhian Lubin‘s full report.

US treasury secretary Scott Bessent will travel to Ukraine this week to discuss a potential deal concerning rare earth minerals, according to a source familiar with his plans.

Mr Bessent will be the first cabinet-level official in US president Donald Trump’s administration to visit Ukraine.

Both Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky and Mr Trump have expressed interest in a pact that would give the United States access to Ukraine’s rare earth resources in exchange for continued support in fending off the Russian invasion.

The source, who requested anonymity as the plans were still confidential, did not offer additional details on the itinerary, according to Reuters.

The White House is yet to comment on the reports.

Rare earths are a group of metals used to make magnets that turn power into motion for electric vehicles, cell phones, missile systems, and other electronics. There are no viable substitutes, and demand is widely expected to grow.

The vice president of the US, JD Vance, is set to meet Volodymyr Zelensky.

Reuters reported the meeting would be taking place on Friday, citing POLITICO.

On Monday, Zelensky said that “serious” members of Trump’s team will travel to Ukraine this week, the first such visit since Trump took office.

Marc Fogel is a US schoolteacher who had been held in Russia since 2021.

On Tuesday, the White House confirmed that he had been released and would be back on US soil imminently.

Fogel was sentenced to 14 years in prison for drug smuggling after he was detained in Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport in August 2021 with 17 grams of marijuana – which he said he uses for medical reasons – in his luggage.

He was left out of a historic swap of prisoners last August that involved 24 prisoners – 16 sent from Russia to the West, including Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, and eight sent back to Russia from the West.

At least one person has been killed in Kyiv after multiple Russian strikes this morning caused fires to break out and damage to structures in various parts of the capital.

Ukraine’s air defences are trying to repel a sudden Russian air attack on Kyiv, military and city officials said early today.

Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko said that a huge industrial fire is raging in the Obolon district, with initial reports indicating damage to nearby buildings.

Emergency crews have been deployed to tackle the fire.

According to the Kyiv Independent, at least four Iskander ballistic missiles were used in the strikes.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky has said he is ready to swap Ukrainian-occupied territory in Kursk for Russian-held territories in Ukraine in potential peace negotiations led by Donald Trump.

“We will swap one territory for another,” Mr Zelensky said in an interview with the Guardian published yesterday.

He did not specify the Ukrainian territories he would ask for. “I don’t know, we will see. But all our territories are important, there is no priority,” he added.

Russia currently occupies about 20 per cent of Ukraine, mostly in the country’s east and south. By comparison, Ukrainian-held territory in Russia’s Kursk currently covers an area roughly the size of Detroit, according to one estimate from a Ukrainian military analyst last month.

Ukraine’s air defence system is trying to repel a sudden attack on Kyiv, military and city officials said today.

“It is loud in the capital,” mayor Vitali Klitschko said on the Telegram messaging app. “Air defence units are in operation. Stay in shelters!’

Ukraine’s Air Force said that Kyiv was under threat of a ballistic attack.

Air raid alerts were imposed only at the start of the attack.

If Donald Trump withdraws US support for Ukraine, Europe alone will be unable to fill the gap, Volodymyr Zelensky warned.

“There are voices which say that Europe could offer security guarantees without the Americans, and I always say no,” the Ukrainian president told The Guardian.

“Those who are helping us to save Ukraine will [have the chance to] renovate it, with their businesses together with Ukrainian businesses. All these things we are ready to speak about in detail,” he said.