kyiv, Ukraine (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a law granting debt forgiveness to new army recruits who enlist to fight in Ukraine.

The measure, the final version of which appeared Saturday on a government website, highlights Russia’s military needs in the war which has lasted for almost 3 years, even though he fired last week a new intermediate-range ballistic missile.

According to Russia’s official Interfax news agency, 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 recovery order has been issued and enforcement proceedings have been initiated before December 1, 2024. It also applies to spouses of new recruits.

Russia has accelerated military recruitment by offering increasing financial incentives, in some cases several times the average salary, to those who wish to fight in Ukraine.

This strategy allowed the army to strengthen its ranks in the conflict zone while avoiding a new mobilization order. A “partial mobilization” in September 2022 triggered an exodus of tens of thousands of Russian men, who fled the country to avoid being conscripted.

The intense and prolonged war strained Russian resources. Putin in September called on the army to increase its numbers by 180,000 troops.

The United States, South Korea and Ukraine say North Korea has sent more than 10,000 troops in Russia in October, some of whom have recently begun engaging in combat on the front lines, increasing pressure on the also tired and overstretched Ukrainian army.

This recruitment campaign coincides with the firing of a new intermediate-range ballistic missile that the Kremlin fired on Ukraine on Thursday. Putin said this was in response to kyiv’s use of American and British missiles capable of striking deeper into Russia.

Ukrainian security services on Sunday showed the Associated Press the wreckage of the new experimental ballistic missile, which hit a factory in the city of Dnipro, central Ukraine.

Fragments of the missile called Oreshnik – Russian for hazel, and which the Pentagon says is based on the Russian RS-26 Rubezh intercontinental ballistic missile – have not yet been analyzed, according to security officials on site in a secret location in Ukraine. The AP and other media outlets were able to view the fragments before they were recovered 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 Ukrainian territory,” said an expert from the Ukrainian security services, 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 testing 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. Maximum speed was 11 Mach.

Meanwhile, Moscow sent 73 drones to Ukraine overnight on Sunday. According to the Ukrainian Air Force, 50 drones were destroyed and four lost, probably due to electronic jamming.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Sunday that Russian forces struck Ukraine last 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 on Sunday in four regions of western Russia, including Kursk, Lipetsk, Belgorod and one over the Oryol region. .

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Morton reported from London.

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