Europe

This is the best summary I could come up with:

Russian troops in February captured the city of Avdiivka and in recent weeks they have been advancing further in the east of the country, besieging the town of Chasiv Yar.

Ukrainian commanders acknowledge Moscow has more troops, but say the decisive factor is its superior artillery, as well as war planes, used to pound defences.

The mobilisation age was reduced from 27 to 25 and, from 18 May, draft evaders can lose their driving licence and have their bank accounts frozen and property seized.

Ukraine’s foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, admitted that few were likely to come home but he said it was a symbolic move as “guys in the trenches are very tired” while their counterparts in the rest of Europe were “sitting in restaurants”.

He moved to a wealthy neighbourhood of Kyiv because draft officers preferred to operate in poorer districts, where it was easier to catch evaders, he said.

Fedir Venislavskyi, a deputy and member of the national security committee, said the number of would-be escapers was smaller than in 2022, when 6 million refugees left.

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