Russia says it has recruited 300,000 people in a month and is ending a divisive draft of reservists to fight in Ukraine, which has led to tens of thousands of Russians fleeing and the first public protest against the war.

Highlights of Saturday, the 248th day of the Ukrainian war, LIVE TEXT:

08:30The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine announced that over the past day, Russia has carried out up to 25 airstrikes against Ukraine, The Kyiv Independent reports.

Russian troops also launched 4 missile strikes and more than 70 rocket launchers.

Over the past day, the Air Force of Ukraine shot down two Su-25 attack aircraft, a Mi-8 helicopter and a Russian drone, the General Staff reported.

01:00 Zelensky: Russia wants to make the Kherson region an exclusion zone. The world must respond

In a new speech, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyi said that Russia wants the Kherson region to become an “exclusion zone”, specifying that the occupiers are “destroying the health care system” in the territory they occupy.

00:22Canada announced new sanctions against Russian officials

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Friday announced several new measures to help Ukraine. According to CNN, Canadians will be able to buy government-backed Ukrainian sovereign bonds that will help finance the Ukrainian government.

A brief summary of recent events:

• ​In the war in Ukraine, Russia carried out more than 8,000 airstrikes and fired 4,500 missiles, President Volodymyr Zelenskyi said. Standing next to the wreckage of a downed Iranian drone, he promised that Putin’s attacks on power plants would not break the spirit of Ukrainians. Over the past two weeks, Russia has fired dozens of missiles and drones at Ukraine’s power grid, causing widespread power outages, and Ukraine has shot down 23 drones in the past two days alone. Ukraine has so far shot down more than 300 Iranian Shahed-136 kamikaze drones
• Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu announced on Friday that the “partial mobilization” announced in September had ended and the goal of mobilizing 300,000 reservists had been met, Reuters and AFP reported.
• Zelensky expresses doubt that the Russian mobilization is really over
• The United States and its allies have condemned Russia for wasting the time of the UN Security Council and spreading the conspiracy, renewing accusations that the United States has “military biological programs” in Ukraine. “How much longer do we have to put up with this nonsense?” British Ambassador to the UN Barbara Woodward asked at the council.
• Russian journalist Svitlana Babayeva, who worked for a major Kremlin-backed media group, died on Friday after being accidentally wounded at a shooting range in Crimea, Russian officials and state media said.
• Russia has reinforced its forces with “mobilized reservists” west of the Dnieper, the British Ministry of Defense reports. Over the past six weeks, its ground forces have moved into a “defensive posture” on the front line, apparently because they are “extremely small” and “poorly trained.”
• The EU has appointed Polish general Piotr Tritek to lead a new training operation with Ukrainian troops. Traitek, 51, was chosen by the EU bloc as part of its promise to increase military support for Ukraine.
• The first deputy head of the administration of President Vladimir Putin visited the Russian-controlled Ukrainian city of Kherson. Serhiy Kiriyenko stopped near the ferry crossing, where hundreds of people were evacuated after the authorities warned.
• A Russian official’s threat to “hit” Western satellites helping Ukraine has raised concerns among space lawyers and industry executives about the safety of objects in orbit. No country has launched a missile attack on an enemy satellite.
• UN nuclear inspectors are expected to reach a conclusion on the “dirty bomb”. Investigators have been sent to two locations in Ukraine where Russia says the actions took place and are expected to reach a conclusion “within days.”
• Russia claims that only 3% of food exported under the UN-negotiated Black Sea export agreement has reached the poorest countries. Several tons of grain have left blocked Ukrainian ports since the signing of the contract. However, Russia claims that Ukraine has not delivered humanitarian food aid.
• The United States is skeptical of Putin’s claims that he has no intention of using nuclear weapons. Putin downplayed the nuclear conflict, insisting that Russia had not threatened to use nuclear weapons and was only responding to nuclear “blackmail” by Western leaders.

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Friday’s events were broadcast LIVE on HotNews.ro