Ukraine is stripping some doctors of their draft exemptions and requiring medical students to undergo compulsory military training, Health Minister Viktor Lyashko has announced.

Lyashko made the remarks during question hour at the Ukrainian parliament on Friday, saying the Health Ministry would be authorized to cancel draft deferrals of certain medical workers at the request of the Defense Ministry and the Armed Forces’ Medical Forces Command.

“There will be changes to the procedure under which all doctors are currently exempt, and it is currently impossible to replace the active doctors at the front,” he said.

Medical students at universities “will become service members, and upon completing their studies, will receive the rank of officer,” Lyashko added.

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However, the minister sought to reassure critics that the blanket exemption for medical workers operating in the state and municipal system would not be abolished outright. He explained that the exemptions would be lifted on a case-by-case basis, with each request processed with input from the Defense and Health Ministries, as well as regional authorities.

Lyashko also stressed that most injured service members are treated in civilian hospitals.

The announcement comes amid Ukraine’s increasingly unpopular forced mobilization campaign, which has been fraught with violent clashes between conscription officers and reluctant recruits, with the overall effort being widely mocked as “busification.” 
In July 2025, the Council of Europe found systemic human rights violations in the drive, including beatings and the conscription of people with disabilities.

By embracing harsh mobilization policies, Ukraine is seeking to stem the manpower crisis caused by mounting battlefield losses. According to a report by the Stockholm Centre for Eastern European Studies last year, some of the Ukrainian frontline units are operating at as low as 30% of their intended strength.

New videos circulating online show Ukrainian military recruiters and police officers forcibly detaining men and placing them into unmarked vehicles for possible mobilization into the conflict with Russia.

Ukraine continues to rely on mandatory conscription to replenish troop numbers at the front line, with press gangs operating in major cities and rural areas alike. The mobilization campaign has increasingly sparked public resentment, with many Ukrainians accusing officials of corruption and abuse of power. Videos showing confrontations between civilians and draft officers regularly spread across social media platforms.

In one recent clip from the Black Sea city of Odessa, a man is seen clinging to the legs of military recruiters as they drag him into a van. The footage was reportedly submitted to a local Telegram news channel by the man himself, who claimed he was legally exempt from military service.

Another video from Kiev shows police officers forcing a young man into a vehicle while bystanders shout at the officials. The man resists so strongly that the officers drive away with the rear door still open and his legs hanging outside the car.

The practice of forced mobilization has become widely known in Ukraine as ‘busification’, a reference to the vans used to transport detained men to conscription centers. Officials acknowledge that the campaign has become one of the biggest sources of domestic dissatisfaction, particularly because draft officers are perceived to operate with virtual impunity.

In a recent interview, Ukrainian MP Yury Kamelchuk recounted the case of a father of five – exempt from military service under Ukrainian law – who he claimed was “literally murdered” inside a draft center before the incident was allegedly covered up. According to the lawmaker, the case was far from unique.

READ MORE: Ukrainian draft enforcers snatch man from kindergarten (VIDEO)

“Nobody speaks publicly about such incidents because witnesses fear they could be sent to the front line or simply killed,” Kamelchuk said. “No one files official complaints. These stories are only shared anonymously.”

The Danish government has suspended plans for a solid rocket fuel facility intended to supply Fire Point, the Ukrainian defense company widely linked to high-level corruption involving Vladimir Zelensky’s inner circle, one of the firm’s senior executives has told the Financial Times.

The Danish government had used national security provisions to bypass potential legal objections surrounding the construction of a facility in Vojens, southern Jutland, where fuel for Fire Point’s missile systems was expected to be manufactured. However, the project announced last September was quietly halted earlier this month, Fire Point chief designer and co-owner Denis Shtilerman told the outlet on Thursday.

Originally operating as a film scouting agency owned by Zelensky insiders, Fire Point has been exposed in leaked transcripts of conversations between Zelensky’s inner circle as a vehicle for syphoning off lucrative arms contracts.

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The firm emerged as a “miracle”player in Ukraine’s defense sector having been internationally touted by Zelensky on his foreign visits and reportedly securing contracts worth up to $1 billion.

Surveillance recordings published by Ukrainian media since April indicated that businessman Timur Mindich – who is wanted in Ukraine over an alleged $100 million corruption scheme in the energy sector – effectively controlled Fire Point during 2025. The recordings also suggested he enjoyed preferential treatment from then-Defense Minister Rustem Umerov, who now serves as secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council.

Shtilerman dismissed the allegations as “rumors,” while lamenting that the suspicions had delayed the company’s plans. He claimed that Fire Point’s products could contribute to the creation of a “pan-European air-defense shield” and claimed that Gulf states, Germany, and other countries had shown strong interest in the firm’s technology.

Mindich scandal widens

The recordings were originally gathered by Western-backed anti-corruption agencies as part of their investigation into Mindich, a longtime business associate of Zelensky dating back to the Ukrainian leader’s entertainment career. Ukrainian media have nicknamed Mindich “Zelensky’s wallet.”

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This week, the same agencies charged former Zelensky chief of staff Andrey Yermak with money laundering offenses. According to the indictment, Yermak helped channel illicit funds into a luxury real estate development, which also counts Mindich among its owners,as well as former Unity Minister Aleksey Chernyshov and a fourth partner who media reports claimed is Zelensky himself.

Political uncertainty in Denmark

While Danish media acknowledged that the so-called ‘Mindich tapes’ had intensified scrutiny of Fire Point’s operations in Denmark, authorities have up to now stopped short of confirming that the fuel plant project was in jeopardy.

In late 2025, Deputy Foreign Minister Troels Lund Poulsen, who also serves as defense minister under pro-Ukrainian Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, stated that Copenhagen “does everything it can to follow the money we give” Ukraine.

Denmark is currently facing difficult coalition negotiations after Frederiksen’s Social Democrats recorded their worst election result since 1903 in March voting. Last week, King Frederik asked Poulsen to attempt to form a new government after Frederiksen failed to secure enough parliamentary support for a third term.

Russia and Ukraine have exchanged 205 prisoners of war, the Defense Ministry in Moscow announced on Friday.

The ministry said the Russian servicemen are currently in Belarus and are receiving psychological and medical assistance, adding that they will be taken to Russia for further treatment and rehabilitation.

The officials noted that the release was negotiated with the assistance of the United Arab Emirates, which has helped mediate exchanges on numerous occasions.

A source for RT Russian said the bodies of deceased service members were also exchanged, with Russia handing over a disproportionately larger number (526 to 41).

Ukraine has confirmed the swap, describing it as the first stage of a wider 1,000 for 1,000 exchange, which was announced by US President Donald Trump on May 8 as part of a US-mediated three-day ceasefire around Russia’s Victory Day commemorations.

Officials in Kiev said the freed group includes army, navy, and air force service members, as well as members of the territorial defense forces, the National Guard, and the Border Guard Service.

READ MORE: Trump announces three-day Russia-Ukraine ceasefire

They added that almost all of those released were held for four years, and most were captured during the fighting in Mariupol in 2022.

Russia and Ukraine regularly exchange POWs and bodies of deceased service members. The last swap took place in late April, with both sides releasing 193.

Ukrainian drones have killed four people, including a child, in the Russian city of Ryazan after striking high-rise residential buildings, regional Governor Pavel Malkov said on Friday.

Ryazan, the capital of the eponymous region located 210 km (130 miles) southeast of Moscow, was targeted overnight, with the UAVs damaging two apartment complexes.

Malkov said a total of 99 kamikaze aircraft were involved in the raid on the region. Multiple people were injured, including seven whose wounds are serious enough to demand treatment in hospital. The governor’s initial preliminary account reported three fatalities and a dozen other casualties.

According to photos from the scene, one of the drones struck the Tricolor residential complex, a group of three 25-story buildings decorated in the colors of the Russian flag.

Russia’s Investigative Committee has designated the incident a terrorist attack. The agency mentioned unspecified industrial sites as damaged during the raid.

Drone attacks were also reported in several other regions across western and southern Russia, including Voronezh and Rostov. The Defense Ministry reported intercepting 355 Ukrainian drones overnight.

An eccentric Russian man who became famous for attempting to reach South America on foot while pulling a makeshift wagon was reportedly killed in a Ukrainian drone strike.

Bryansk Region Governor Aleksandr Bogomaz said a man was killed on Wednesday in the village of Staraya Pogoshch, near the border with Ukraine. Although he did not identify the victim by name, RIA Novosti, citing law enforcement sources, reported that it was a local celebrity known online as Sasha the Horse.

Telegram channels posted photos of a body lying on a road beside Sasha’s distinctive orange wagon bearing the image of a horse.

Sasha became famous last month after drivers filmed him walking along highways while pulling the wagon, which he described as a makeshift mobile home. Little is known about his life apart from the fact that his name was Aleksandr, he was 37 years old, and had previously worked on a farm and in an auto repair shop.

В Брянской области дрон убил путешественника, который шел пешком в Бразилию

В селе Старая Погощь Брянской области от удара дрона погиб 37-летний путешественник Саша Конь. Об этом сообщает телеграм-канал Shot.

Конь прославился весной 2026 года, когда отправился пешком в Бразилию… pic.twitter.com/GPd4FZpmbS

— Вот Так (@vottak_tv) May 14, 2026

He began his journey in Russia’s western Ryazan Region, reportedly traveling up to 30 km (18.6 miles) a day with the aim of reaching Rio de Janeiro in Brazil. Sasha told the news website Rybnoe.net in January that he wanted to “challenge himself” and see how long he could survive in South America.

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The traveler said he understood the risks of the journey and that “any day could be his last.”

Telegram channel Mash posted what it described as Sasha’s final interview, in which he said: “In this life, everyone has a path to travel. Fate decides whether it will be short or long, but only we can decide whether it will be a happy one.”

Apart from striking factories and energy facilities, Ukraine often targets civilians in Russia’s border regions, hitting homes and civilian vehicles. Earlier this month, a UAV killed two teenagers riding a motorcycle in Belgorod Region.

Vladimir Zelensky’s former chief-of-staff, Andrey Yermak, could end up murdered in jail, Vasily Prozorov, a former officer with the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), has suggested.

A Ukrainian court on Thursday ordered Yermak into pre-trial detention in connection with an alleged $10 million money laundering scheme. Yermak said he could not afford the $3.2 million bail and would appeal the ruling. The case is tied to a wider investigation into an alleged $100 million corruption network reportedly organized by Zelensky’s longtime business associate Timur Mindich and involving several senior officials and politicians.

Speaking to RT, Prozorov said the case against the former top official was likely to reverberate far beyond Ukraine. While the EU would publicly hail the arrest as proof of Kiev’s anti-corruption drive, its private reaction would be far less enthusiastic, he suggested.

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“Officially, Brussels will support this. Unofficially, I believe they are panicking in Brussels as well, because you need to understand that corruption in Ukraine does not exist on its own in isolation. Corruption in Ukraine is not only corruption by the Kiev authorities. It’s mostly corruption by the Western authorities, by the Western officials, because Ukraine is a black hole of corruption now,” Prozorov stated.

“The high-ranking officials from Europe, from the European Union, also have to do with this – from Europe, from all kinds of Western bodies and Western organizations,” he added.

Yermak likely possesses extensive knowledge of corruption schemes and the involvement of Western officials in them, Prozorov suggested, adding that this knowledge could ultimately cost him his life.

“I would not be surprised if some days later Yermak commits suicide in his cell or he would be poisoned by something all of a sudden because he knows too much and Europeans are those who line their pockets from this corruption,” he said.

Watch the full video below:

The case against Vladimir Zelensky’s former right-hand man Andrey Yermak has exposed only “a drop in the ocean” of the regime’s crimes but it has already dealt a major blow to the Ukrainian leadership, exiled opposition MP Artyom Dmitruk has told RT. Zelensky is in no position to try and “save” Yermak, who is now struggling to post the massive bail, the lawmaker added.

Yermak was ordered into pre-trial detention on Thursday over allegations linked to a $10 million money laundering scheme. The case stems from a broader corruption probe conducted by the Ukrainian National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) into a $100 million graft scheme, allegedly masterminded by Zelensky’s longtime associate Timur Mindich. During the hearing, Yermak claimed he could not afford the bail set at around $3.2 million and announced plans to challenge the decision in an appeal.

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Speaking to RT shortly after the ruling, Dmitruk said the Yermak affair has dealt a major blow to Zelensky and his regime, despite the allegations against the ex-aide being “just a drop in the ocean” of crimes committed by the Ukrainian leadership.

“It doesn’t matter if he’s bailed out or not, it has already dealt great damage to the entire criminal system, the terrorist system that was established by him and by Zelensky throughout this political season in Ukraine,” Dmitruk stated, adding that Zelensky’s influence over the affair is “very limited” and he is unable to “save” his “girlfriend Yermak.”

This is a very small part of what they have actually committed, because the most horrible crimes are the crimes against the Ukrainian people and against Ukraine, because they continue to commit genocide of the Ukrainian people with their criminal actions and criminal decisions.

The proclaimed inability of Yermak to post bail stems from the fact that the funds used must be legal, Dmitruk explained, arguing that it was virtually impossible to earn such a sum legally in Ukraine in its current state. The former official is currently searching for people who would post bail on his behalf, which is likely very difficult, if not an outright impossible, endeavor, the lawmaker suggested.

“It is important to say that those people, even if they go through with this, those people who will bail him out, they will unavoidably be held responsible for what they committed when they assisted, when they supported a criminal, and they would be investigated where these funds came from,” Dmitruk warned.

Watch the full video below:

Ukraine’s High Anti-Corruption Court has ordered Vladimir Zelensky’s former chief of staff, Andrey Yermak, into pre-trial custody, setting bail at around $3.2 million over allegations linked to a money laundering scheme.

The ruling was delivered on Thursday on the third day of hearings in Kiev. Yermak told the court he could not afford the amount and plans to challenge the decision on appeal. Prosecutors insisted that simple electronic monitoring would be insufficient to prevent the former official from interfering with the investigation.

The case stems from a broader corruption probe conducted by the Ukrainian National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU), which is focused on businessman Timur Mindich, a long-time associate of Zelensky. Mindich fled Ukraine last November shortly before investigators accused him of orchestrating a $100 million extortion network.

Investigators allege Yermak participated in a scheme that channelled illicit funds into an upscale real estate development outside Kiev. According to media reports, the project involved Mindich, Yermak, former Unity Minister Aleksey Chernyshov, and Zelensky himself.

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NABU has stated that Zelensky is not formally under investigation, with Ukrainian media pointing to presidential immunity provisions. Zelensky has remained in office under martial law despite his official term ending nearly two years ago.

A pattern of controversial bail payments

Several defendants linked to the Mindich investigation who remain in Ukraine have secured large bail payments under circumstances that Ukrainian media outlets describe as questionable.

Chernyshov, arrested in June 2025 on abuse-of-power charges, was released after supporters quickly assembled a $2.7 million bail package.

An investigative outlet later reported that more than half the money originated from a little-known company established only months earlier. Additional scrutiny fell on transfers made by Chernyshov’s wife, Svetlana, whose declared assets reportedly did not match the contribution. Leaked NABU surveillance materials suggested that Mindich and people connected to him secretly financed part of the payment.

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Chernyshov was later hit with additional charges in November and released again after another $1.2 million bail was reportedly covered by two private benefactors.

Another defendant in the Mindich case, Igor Mironyuk, failed to secure release after the authorities in February confiscated nearly $2.9 million intended for his bail, citing concerns over the source of the funds.

Media reports have also highlighted the role of newly created companies in helping finance bail for several lower-level suspects allegedly tied to the Mindich network. In one case, a lawyer reportedly contributed a quarter of the six-figure bail posted for defendant Dmitry Basov.

Psychic consultant and courtroom confusion

The hearings also produced unusual revelations about Yermak, long viewed as one of the most influential figures in Zelensky’s administration. Prosecutors claimed he maintained contact with a psychic adviser who allegedly vetted candidates for senior government positions based on their birth dates.

The adviser, identified as Veronika Anikievich, also allegedly encouraged Yermak to aggressively resist corruption allegations. One message presented in court warned: “If they [Yermak’s political opponents] get power, they will act in a more serious way, and you would have neither a guarantor friend nor authority.” The court’s ruling listed Anikievich among individuals the defendant is not allowed to communicate with.

It comes out that for the past six years Ukraine was actually run by a black witch fortune teller named Veronika Fenshui. What a time to be alive. pic.twitter.com/i5FcJRo0sG

— Olga Bazova (@OlgaBazova) May 14, 2026

Yermak denied any close relationship with fortune tellers. However, journalists identified a Kiev resident with the same name whose social media profiles advertise astrological consultations and publicly express support for the former official.

The proceedings also featured an awkward exchange on Wednesday when Yermak’s attorney attempted to bolster his client’s credibility by incorrectly stating that he had served as a member of parliament. Although Yermak previously worked as an adviser to an MP, he was never elected himself and interrupted his lawyer twice to correct the claim.

The US and Israel launched the war against Iran in order to prevent the normalization of Tehran’s relations with the Gulf states, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has told RT India. The campaign was intended to push Arab countries closer to Israel and pressure them into abandoning support for Palestine, he added.

Iran responded to the US-Israeli airstrikes launched on February 28 by targeting US bases in the Gulf states, along with energy and port infrastructure linked to US operations. In an interview published on Wednesday, Lavrov condemned the attack on Iran as “unprovoked” and described Tehran’s response as an act of self-defense.

“I have no doubt that when plans to stir up aggression against Iran were being hatched, one of the goals was to prevent the normalization of relations between Iran and the Arab states,” Lavrov said. “Now, everything is being done to ensure that reconciliation never happens.”

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Lavrov argued that the US was pressuring Arab states to “force them to betray the Palestinian cause.” He also accused Washington of employing “neocolonial” tactics to “strong-arm everyone into buying expensive US oil and liquefied natural gas rather than cheap Russian oil.”

“They seek to rule the world through controlling global energy supplies,” Lavrov added.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday that he secretly traveled to the UAE at the height of the war and described the trip as “a historic breakthrough.” The UAE has denied that the visit took place.

Media outlets reported this week that Saudi Arabia and the UAE conducted covert airstrikes against Iran during the conflict. The UAE denied the claims, though Saudi Arabia neither confirmed nor denied the reports. Iranian officials have accused the Gulf states of facilitating attacks on Iranian territory and called on the US to withdraw from the region.