Overview

• Ukraine’s Main Intelligence Directorate intercepted radio communications in which a Russian soldier nicknamed “Brelok” admitted killing and eating his comrade “Foma” over two weeks near Zapadne and Lyman Pershyi.
• The Kremlin has expanded its ranks by pardoning and deploying hardened criminals, including convicted cannibal Dmitry Malyshev and murderer-rapist Alexander Maslennikov, under a prisoner recruitment program.
• Ukrainian agencies say these disclosures underscore extreme psychological stress, infighting and a disregard for human life among Russian troops.
• Russian forces have pressed their offensive in eastern Ukraine, recently capturing the settlement of Zaporizhzhya in Donetsk region.
• President Volodymyr Zelenskyy urged allied governments to intensify economic pressure on Russia to counter its advances.