KYIV, Ukraine (AP) – Russian President Vladimir Putin has approved a budget that will raise military spending to record levels in 2025 as the Kremlin seeks victory in the war in Ukraine.
About 32.5% of the budget posted on the government's website on Sunday is allocated to national defense, amounting to 13.5 trillion rubles (more than $145 billion), up from a reported 28.3% this year. I am doing it.
Members of the Russian parliament, the State Duma and the Federation Council had already approved the plan in the past 10 days.
Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine since February 2022 is Europe's biggest conflict since World War II, draining resources on both sides. Kiev receives billions of dollars in aid from Western allies, but Russia's military is larger and better equipped, and in recent months it has been gradually pushing back Ukrainian forces in the eastern region. .
New European Council President Antonio Costa and EU foreign policy chief Kaja Karas arrived in Kiev on Sunday to begin their first day in office with a strong message of support for Ukraine. Their visit comes as questions deepen about what Kyiv can expect from the new US administration led by Donald Trump.
“From the first day of the war, the EU has stood by Ukraine,” Costa posted on X, along with a photo of himself, Karas and EU enlargement chief Marta Kos. “From the first day of our mission, we have reaffirmed our unwavering support for the Ukrainian people.”
In Ukraine, a Russian drone crashed into a minibus on Sunday morning, killing three people in the southern city of Kherson, regional governor Oleksandr Prokudin announced. Seven other people were injured in the attack.
Meanwhile, the number of injured in Saturday's missile attack in central Ukraine's Dnipropetrovsk region has risen to 24, seven of whom are in critical condition, Dnipropetrovsk region governor Serhiy Lysak said. Four people were killed in the attack.
The Russian government sent 78 drones into Ukraine overnight through Sunday, Ukrainian officials said. According to the Ukrainian Air Force, 32 drones were destroyed and another 45 were lost, possibly due to electronic jamming.
In Russia, a child was killed in a Ukrainian drone attack in Bryansk Oblast, which borders Ukraine, the region's governor, Alexander Bogomaz, announced.
The Russian Ministry of Defense announced that 29 Ukrainian-made drones were shot down in four regions of western Russia during the night leading up to Sunday. This included 20 aircraft over the Bryansk region, 7 over the Kaluga region, and 1 each over the Smolensk and Kursk regions.
