Wolfgang Schwan: Latest News

A soldier of the 46th Air Assault battalion is seen along the point of contact outside New York, Ukraine in the Donetsk Region. (Photo by Wolfgang Schwan/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images) A Russian lawmaker is encouraging residents of the rebel-controlled areas of Ukraine to join the Russian army, a sign that Moscow is continuing to try to integrate those territories as much as possible amid Western fears that Russia is planning to invade Ukraine.Viktor Vodolatsky said Saturday that residents of the regions controlled since 2014 by Russia-backed rebels fear assaults by Ukrainian forces and that those who hold Russian passports would be welcomed in the military."If Russian citizens residing in the (territories) want to join the Russian Armed Forces, the Rostov regional military commissariat will register and draft them," Vodolatsky, deputy chairman of parliament committee on relations with neighbors, told the state news agency Tass.Russia has granted passports to more than 500,000 people in the territories.

Ukrainian soldiers patrol the trenches along the frontline near the town of Zolote-4, Ukraine on January 19, 2022. (Photo by Wolfgang Schwan/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images) A member of Ukraine's National Guard on Thursday opened fire on his fellow soldiers, killing five people and wounding five more, Ukraine's Interior Ministry said.