LATEST HEADLINES

• Russian President Vladimir Putin was on Friday shown meeting one of the most senior former commanders of the Wagner mercenary group, Andrei Troshev, and discussing how best to use "volunteer units" in Ukraine. READ MORE BELOW

• Former Wagner mercenary commander Andrei Troshev is now working for Russia's Defense Ministry, RIA Novosti news agency quoted Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov as saying on Friday.

• Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said on Friday that "very difficult questions" would need to be answered before the European Union could even start membership talks with Ukraine.

• Russian shelling on Thursday killed three women in the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson and two people in eastern Donetsk region, local officials said. Prosecutors said the three women were killed on a street in Kherson, a town abandoned by Russian troops late last year.

• Russian air defenses downed 10 Ukrainian drones over the Kursk region and one over the Kaluga region overnight, Russia's defense ministry said on Friday.

• Romania is moving air defences closer to its Danube villages across the river from Ukraine where Russian drones have been attacking grain facilities, and is adding more military observation posts and patrols to the area, two senior defense sources said.

IN DEPTH

Putin meets former Wagner commander

Russian President Vladimir Putin was on Friday shown meeting one of the most senior former commanders of the Wagner mercenary group and discussing how best to use "volunteer units" in Ukraine.

The meeting underscored the Kremlin's attempt to show that the state had now gained control over the mercenary group after a failed June mutiny by its boss Yevgeny Prigozhin, who was then killed with other senior commanders in a plane crash in August.

Putin was shown on state television meeting at the Kremlin with Andrei Troshev, a former Wagner commander known by his nom de guerre "Sedoi" - or "grey hair."

The Kremlin said the meeting took place late on Thursday. Deputy Defense Minister Yunus-Bek Yevkurov, who has traveled to several countries where Wagner mercenaries have worked, was also present, sitting closest to Putin.

Addressing Troshev, Putin said that they had spoken about how "volunteer units that can perform various combat tasks, above all, of course, in the zone of the special military operation," Russia's description of the war in Ukraine.

"You yourself have been fighting in such a unit for more than a year," Putin said. "You know what it is, how it is done, you know about the issues that need to be resolved in advance so that the combat work goes in the best and most successful way."

Putin also said he wanted to speak about social support for those involved in the fighting. Troshev was shown listening to Putin, leaning forward and nodding, pencil in hand. His remarks were not shown. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told the RIA news agency that Troshev now worked at the defense ministry.

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