Russia Is Now Arming Citizen Militias Along Ukraine Border

Regional governors are handing over machine guns and SUVs to Russian volunteers as cross-border attacks multiply.

AP/Jae C. Hong
At Kyiv, Svitlana Sushko, 62, sobs while visiting the grave of her youngest son, a Ukrainian soldier who was killed last year in the war against Russia, August 3, 2023. AP/Jae C. Hong

Add this to the summer’s growing list of twists and turns in the Ukrainian army’s months-long effort to repel President Putin’s soldiers: Russian officials are now handing out machine guns to citizen soldiers directly across the border with Ukraine. 

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