KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a law that will forgive debt for new army recruits who sign up to fight in Ukraine.

The measure, the final version of which appeared on a government website on Saturday, underlines this Russia’s need for military personnel in the nearly three-year war, even when shots were fired last week a new medium-range ballistic missile.

According to Russian state news agency Interfax, the new legislation allows those who sign a one-year contract to write off bad debts of up to 10 million rubles ($96,000). The law applies to debts for which a court order for recovery has been issued and enforcement proceedings have begun before December 1, 2024. The law also applies to the spouses of new recruits.

Russia has ramped up military recruitment by offering increasing financial incentives, in some cases several times the average salary, to those willing to fight in Ukraine.

The strategy has allowed the army to strengthen its ranks in the conflict zone while avoiding another mobilization order. A “partial mobilization” in September 2022 led to an exodus of tens of thousands of Russian men, who fled the country to avoid conscription.

The intense and prolonged war has put pressure on Russian resources. Putin called on the army in September to expand its troops by 180,000 troops.

That’s what the US, South Korea and Ukraine say North Korea sent more than 10,000 troops in October to Russia, some of whom have recently begun fighting on the front lines, adding to the pressure on Ukraine’s similarly tired and overstretched military.

The AP sees wreckage of Russia’s new experimental rocket

The push for recruits coincides with the firing of a new medium-range ballistic missile into Ukraine on Thursday. Putin said this was a response to the use of Kiev American and British missiles able to penetrate deeper into Russia.

The Ukrainian security service showed the Associated Press on Sunday wreckage of the new experimental ballistic missile hit a factory in the central Ukrainian city of Dnipro.

The fragments of the missile named Oreshnik – Russian for hazel, and which the Pentagon says is based on the Russian intercontinental ballistic missile RS-26 Rubezh – have not yet been analyzed, according to security officials on the ground at a secret location in Ukraine. . The AP and other media were able to see the fragments before they were taken away by investigators.

Charred, mangled wires and an ashen airframe the size of a large snow tire were all that remained of the weapon, which can carry conventional or nuclear warheads.

“It should be noted that this is the first time that the remains of such a missile have been discovered on the territory of Ukraine,” said an expert from the Ukrainian security service, who identified himself only by his first name Oleh because he was not. authorized to discuss the matter with the media.

Ukraine’s main intelligence directorate said the missile was fired from the 4th Missile Test Range, Kapustin Yar, in Russia’s Astrakhan region and flew for 15 minutes before hitting Dnipro. The missile had six warheads, each carrying six submunitions. The peak speed was Mach 11.

The US must ‘get ahead of’ escalation, says the new national security adviser

In light of the missile attack, US President Donald Trump’s new national security adviser, Mike Waltz, said on Sunday that the new administration wants to “bring both sides to the table” and is concerned about escalation.

Waltz clarified on “Fox News Sunday” that he has met with Biden’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, to discuss U.S. policy and options in Ukraine, and the Florida congressman assured that those talks will continue.

“Our opponents who think this is a time of opportunity, that they can play one administration off the other, are wrong,” Waltz said. “We are hand in hand. We are one team with the United States in this transition.”

Waltz appeared to endorse Biden’s decision to send anti-personnel mines to Ukrainian forces for use in the conflict. “It’s a step toward somewhat strengthening the lines, and we also had to hold back Russian gains,” Waltz said.

The congressman also emphasized Trump’s wish for the conflict to end quickly. Trump, who has praised Putin over the years, avoided setting conditions for an end to the conflict during the campaign, suggesting he would be open to significant annexations from Ukraine. Waltz avoided discussing any terms Trump might pursue once he takes office.

“The president-elect is very concerned about the escalation and where this is all going,” Waltz said. “We must bring this to an end in a responsible manner. We must restore deterrence, restore peace and stay ahead of this ladder of escalation, rather than reacting to it.”

In other developments:

— Moscow sent 73 drones to Ukraine last night and Sunday. According to the Ukrainian Air Force, 50 drones were destroyed and four were lost, probably because they were electronically jammed.

– Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Sunday that Russian forces have hit Ukraine in the past week with more than 800 guided aerial bombs, about 460 attack drones and more than 20 missiles.

– In Russia, the Defense Ministry said 34 Ukrainian drones were shot down overnight into Sunday in four regions in western Russia, including Kursk, Lipetsk, Belgorod and one over the Oryol region.

___ Morton reported from London. Associated Press writer Bill Barrow in Washington, DC contributed to this report. ___ Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine