Commander in Chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces Colonel General Oleksandr Syrskyi during a meeting.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Ukraine on Monday walked back an announcement that French military instructors would soon arrive in the country, saying that it was still in talks with Paris and other allies on the issue.

Kyiv’s Defence Ministry made the “clarification” after army chief Oleksandr Syrsky said that the first French military instructors would soon arrive in the war-battered country.

“As of now, we are still in discussions with France and other countries on this,” Ukraine’s Defence Ministry said in a statement.

It added that it had “begun internal work on the relevant documents on this issue in order not to waste time on coordinating bureaucratic issues when the relevant decision is made.”

Mr. Syrsky earlier said that he had “signed the documents that will allow the first French instructors to visit our training centres soon and get acquainted with their infrastructure and personnel.”

He made the announcement after he and Defence Minister Rustem Umerov took part in a video call with French Defence Minister Sebastien Lecornu.

France’s Defence Ministry said the issue was being studied but did not confirm the deployment.

“Training on Ukrainian soil is one of the projects discussed since the conference on support for Ukraine convened by (French President Emmanuel Macron) on February 26,” it said.

“Like all projects discussed on this occasion, this continues to be the subject of work with the Ukrainians, in particular to understand their exact needs,” it added.

France does not officially have military personnel assisting or training Ukrainian forces in Ukraine.

Macron has repeatedly made comments on possible Western troop deployment to Ukraine, which has been met with fury in Moscow and with unease by France’s Western allies.

Kyiv, Ukraine:

Ukraine authorities on Tuesday suspended consular services for men of fighting age living abroad, after announcing measures to bring them home amid manpower shortages in the army fighting Russia.

Ukraine’s army has been struggling to hold frontlines, partly due to a lack of soldiers over two years into Russia’s invasion.  

Ukraine’s foreign affairs ministry “announced a temporary suspension of accepting new applications for consular services” for men between 18 and 60. 

It made an exception for documents allowing Ukrainians to return to Ukraine. 

The move would likely oblige Ukrainian men to return from abroad to undergo  administrative procedures that were previously available abroad.

The government has already adopted a mobilisation law, due to come into force on May 18, that toughens penalties against draft dodgers and obliges men to keep their military registration up-to-date. 

The ministry said men would be able to access consular services once the law came into force and “after updating their military registration.”

“Male citizen of Ukraine aged 18 to 60 with valid military registration documents will have full access to consular services,” the ministry said. 

Ukrainian men have been forbidden to leave the country since the invasion began, apart from a few exceptions. 

But some lived away before the war began, and Ukrainian media estimates that thousands more illegally fled the country.

(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

Kharkiv:

The 240-meter television tower in Ukraine’s city of Kharkiv broke in half and fell to the ground on Monday, footage obtained by Reuters showed, after what local officials said was likely a Russian missile attack on television infrastructure.

The broadcasting signal was disrupted to Ukraine’s second-largest city, which has been pounded by Russian missile and drone strikes in recent weeks.

“At the moment there are interruptions to the digital television signal,” regional governor Oleh Syniehubov said.

There were no casualties because workers were in shelters, he added.

Footage from the scene showed the main mast of the tower breaking off and falling as a cloud of smoke rose into the sky.

It was not clear from the footage what had hit the mast, but Kharkiv prosecutors said Russia had likely used a cruise Kh-59 missile in the attack.

The video was verified by corroborating video from another angle showing the same moment the top of the tower collapsed.

Russia first attacked Kharkiv’s television tower several times in early March 2022 soon after it launched its full-scale invasion. The signal was disrupted at the time.

Moscow has recently stepped up its attacks, while Ukraine is suffering a shortage of air defense capabilities. Kharkiv and the surrounding region have experienced the most intense strikes.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

File picture of a Russian drone in Ukraine airspace
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Ukraine destroyed 29 of 31 drones launched by Russia and one cruise missile, its air force said on Tuesday, most of them targeting the regions of Mykolaiv and Dnipropetrovsk.

The waves of overnight attacks lasted more than three hours, the southern command of Ukraine’s forces had said earlier.

Falling debris in the southeastern city of Dnipro caused a fire at a private firm that was quickly doused, said Serhiy Lysak, governor of the Dnipropetrovsk region.

Damage to manufacturing facilities at an industrial enterprise in the city of Pavlohrad led to a fire that was also put out, he added on the Telegram messaging app.

Sixteen drones were destroyed over the southern region of Mykolaiv, its governor, Vitaliy Kim, said.