Unprecedented escalation in Ukraine and Moscow incentivizes its soldiers with financial exemptions

The Russia-Ukraine war has witnessed the most serious political and military escalation in months, following Moscow issued a public ultimatum calling on foreign nationals and international diplomatic missions to leave the capital Kyiv immediately, threatening to target "decision-making and command centers."

The threat coincided with Russian President Vladimir Putin's approval of an unprecedented package of financial and real estate concessions to incentivize recruits, amid widespread Western condemnations of Russia's use of hypersonic ballistic missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads.

Financial stimulus for recruits and ongoing Russian mobilization

Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed two new decrees granting soldiers fighting in Ukraine and their families broad debt forgiveness and extended rights to lease state land indefinitely.

The first decree provides for the forgiveness of legal debts of up to 10 million rubles (about $139,700) from the new soldiers, provided that they sign a contract to join the "special military operation" for at least one year.

The move follows previous support measures that include higher salaries and preferential benefits in higher education, with the aim of bolstering the armed forces as U.S.-sponsored peace talks stall.

Warning to evacuate the capital Kyiv and strike "decision centers"

Diplomatically, Moscow's request for foreign missions to leave Kyiv has sparked international alert, with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, during a phone call with his US counterpart Marco Rubio, urging the United States and other countries to ensure the evacuation of their diplomatic staff and citizens based on the official statement issued on May 25.

The Russian Foreign Ministry confirmed that the upcoming strikes will target military and administrative infrastructure and command centers in the capital, calling on civilians to stay away from them.

Commenting on the warning, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio from India explained  that Moscow had sent the notice to all embassies without exception, reiterating Washington's readiness to mediate and facilitate an end to the war, which he said had "lasted longer than World War II".

On the other hand, the Ukrainian and European response was hardened, with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sephe urging international partners not to give in to Russian blackmail and to intensify military support, coinciding with a visit he organized accompanied by more than 70 ambassadors to the sites of the recent strikes in Kyiv.

France, for its part, flatly rejected the warning, saying, "We are used to Putin's threats and it is out of the question to evacuate our diplomats," which the EU ambassador in Kyiv backed up by announcing that he would follow the same consistent approach.

Biggest attack since 2022 in response to Lugansk strike

On the ground, this Russian warning came after a large-scale missile and air attack that was described as the largest on the capital Kyiv since 2022, which killed four people and injured about 100 others, according to the head of the Kyiv city administration, Timur Tkachenko, as well as the offices of the World Health Organization and several UN agencies were damaged by the missile debris.

Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that this intensified bombardment came in direct response to a "deliberate" Ukrainian drone strike that targeted a vocational school and a student dormitory with teenagers in the Starobylsk-Lugansk region (under Russian control), killing 21 people and wounding 40 others, considering that this strike was "the drop that overflowed the glass", while the Ukrainian General Staff confirmed that it targeted a military headquarters in that area.

Western condemnation of the "nuclear gamble" with the Euryshink missile

In terms of international responses, EU foreign policy chief Kaia Kallas described Russia's recent attacks as "horrific acts and reckless nuclear gamble."

Kallas said Moscow's use of an Oreshnik intermediate-range hypersonic ballistic missile, which is originally designed to carry nuclear warheads three times so far, is a "political tactic of intimidation" to compensate for the blockage of the horizon on the battlefield.

In a parallel geopolitical development that reflects the expansion of regional tensions, French President Emmanuel Macron held a phone call, the first of its kind since  2022, with his Belarusian counterpart Alexander Lukashenko, during which he issued a stern warning to Minsk against being drawn into Russia's war, calling on it to take concrete steps to improve its relations with the European system.