ECB hopes to have political deal on digital euro by early 2026
The ECB has been working on a digital version of the euro for years but progress has been slower than expected, mostly because legislation is still not in place to allow the bank to proceed.
Financial upheaval in the aftermath of Donald Trump's election as the U.S. President has increased the urgency, however, as Europe relies on big U.S. firms for most digital payments, a potential financial vulnerability.
"I hope to have everything done by the beginning of next year, very early next year," Cipollone told a conference when asked about the timing of the legal framework. "We need the legislation in place, and from that, two to three years will be enough to launch the digital euro."
Unlike when they make a card payment by the likes of Visa or Mastercard, consumers paying with a digital would have a direct claim on the central bank and their funds would be similar in function and security as cash.
It would allow customers to make direct payments both in online and offline formats.
Cipollone said a key hurdle is getting a political agreement from EU member states but that could be reached before the summer. Work by the European Parliament could take somewhat longer, he added.
When asked if Trump could accelerate the process, French central bank chief Francois Villeroy de Galhau, speaking at the same event, said it enhanced the ECB's determination.
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Straits Times
41 minutes ago
- Straits Times
A 15-year bond between Trump and Epstein: Parties, jets and women
A message calling on President Donald Trump to release all files related to Jeffrey Epstein is projected onto the US Chamber of Commerce building across in Washington, DC, on July 18. NEW YORK - In the swirl of money and suntanned women that was their Palm Beach-and-Manhattan set, Donald Trump and Jeffrey Epstein spent nearly 15 years mingling side by side as public friends. There were lavish dinners with boldface names at Epstein's mansion on New York City's Upper East Side and raucous parties with cheerleaders and models at Mr Trump's private club and residence at Mar-a-Lago in Florida. In between, there were trips back and forth from Florida to New York on one of Epstein's private jets. But behind the tabloid glamour, questions have lingered about what Mr Trump's long association with Epstein says about his judgment and character, especially as his allies have stoked sinister claims about Epstein's connections to Democrats. After their relationship ruptured, the disgraced financier ended up behind bars not just once, but two times, after being accused of engaging in sex with teenage girls. One of the young women who later said Epstein groomed and abused her was recruited into his world while working as a spa attendant at Mar-a-Lago. Another accuser recalled being eyed by Mr Trump during a brief encounter in Epstein's office, and claimed that Epstein had told Mr Trump at the time, 'She's not for you.' Another woman has said that Mr Trump groped her when Epstein brought her to Trump Tower in Manhattan to meet him. This past week, The Wall Street Journal reported that Mr Trump gave Epstein a note for his 50th birthday in 2003 that included a sketch of a naked woman and a cryptic reference to a 'secret' the two men shared. Mr Trump has denied writing the message and filed a libel lawsuit on July 18 challenging the story. The New York Times has not verified the Journal report. Mr Trump has never been accused of wrongdoing in connection with the Epstein case, and has said he had 'no idea' that Epstein was abusing young women. In response to a request for comment about the president's history with Epstein, Ms Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, said Mr Trump had barred Epstein from his Mar-a-Lago club 'for being a creep'. 'These stories are tired and pathetic attempts to distract from all the success of President Trump's administration,' she said in a statement. Top stories Swipe. Select. Stay informed. Singapore 1 in 3 vapes here laced with etomidate; MOH working with MHA to list it as illegal drug: Ong Ye Kung Singapore HSA extends hotline hours, launches new platform to report vaping offences Singapore Tampines regional centre set to get more homes, offices and public amenities Multimedia How to make the most out of small homes in Singapore World Diplomats dismissed: Inside the overhaul reshaping Trump's foreign policy Life US tech CEO Andy Byron resigns after viral Coldplay 'kiss cam' video Opinion I thought I was a 'chill' parent. Then came P1 registration Singapore 'God and government are the only things beyond our control,' says Group CEO Mr Trump and Epstein largely went separate ways after a falling-out around 2004, taking drastically different paths – one toward jail and suicide, the other toward further celebrity and the White House. As criticism of the handling of Epstein's case mounted over the years, some of Mr Trump's staunchest allies promoted theories that the government had covered up the extent of his network to protect what they have described as a cabal of powerful men and celebrities, largely Democrats. Now, that story has entangled Mr Trump himself in what amounts to one of the biggest controversies in his second White House stint. The conflict has come primarily from his own appointees, who, after months of promoting interest in the files, abruptly changed course and said there was no secret Epstein client list and backed the official finding that Epstein had killed himself. Still, under mounting pressure from his own supporters to release the government's files on Epstein, the president this past week ordered the Justice Department to seek the unsealing of grand jury testimony in the criminal case brought against Epstein in 2019 and one year later against his longtime partner Ghislaine Maxwell, who is serving a 20-year sentence on a sex-trafficking conviction. She has asked the Supreme Court to consider her appeal. Even if they are released, the transcripts are unlikely to shed much light on the relationship between the two men, which did not figure prominently in either criminal case. What seemed to draw them together, according to those who knew them at the time, was a common interest in hitting on – and competing for – attractive young women at parties, nightclubs and other private events. Palm beach neighbours Mr Trump and Epstein appear to have met around 1990, when Epstein bought a property 2 miles north of Mar-a-Lago and set about staking a claim in Palm Beach's moneyed, salt-air social scene. Mr Trump, who had purchased Mar-a-Lago five years earlier, had already established his own brash presence in the seaside enclave as a playboy with a taste for gold-leaf finery. The two had much in common. Both were outer-borough New Yorkers who had succeeded in Manhattan. Both were energetic self-promoters. And both had reputations as showy men about town. In 1992, an NBC News camera captured the pair at a Mar-a-Lago party that featured cheerleaders from the Buffalo Bills, who were in town that weekend for a game against the Miami Dolphins. At one point in the footage, Mr Trump can be seen dancing amid a crowd of young women. Later, he appears to be pointing at other women while whispering something in Epstein's ear, causing him to double over with laughter. Months later, when Mr Trump hosted a party at Mar-a-Lago for young women in a so-called calendar girl competition, Epstein was the only other guest, according to Mr George Houraney, a Florida-based businessman who arranged the event. Mr Houraney recalled being surprised that Epstein was the only other person on the guest list. 'I said, 'Donald, this is supposed to be a party with VIPs,' ' he told the Times in 2019. 'You're telling me it's you and Epstein?'' Mr Houraney's then-girlfriend and business partner Jill Harth later accused Mr Trump of sexual misconduct on the night of the party. In a lawsuit, she said Mr Trump took her into a bedroom and forcibly kissed and groped her, and restrained her from leaving. She also said that a 22-year-old contestant told her that Mr Trump later that night crawled into her bed uninvited. Ms Harth dropped her suit in 1997 after a related case filed by Mr Houraney was settled by Mr Trump, who has denied her allegations. Mr Trump and Epstein were spotted again at a 1997 Victoria's Secret 'Angels' party in Manhattan. The lingerie company was run by Mr Leslie H. Wexner, a billionaire businessman who handed Epstein sweeping power over his finances, philanthropy and private life within years of meeting him. Court records show that Mr Trump was among those who got rides on Epstein's private jet. Over four years in the 1990s, he flew on Epstein's Boeing 727 at least seven times, largely making jaunts between Palm Beach and a private airport in Teterboro, New Jersey, just outside New York. 'I've known Jeff for 15 years. Terrific guy,' Mr Trump told New York magazine in 2002. 'He's a lot of fun to be with. It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side. No doubt about it – Jeffrey enjoys his social life.' An encounter at Mar-a-Lago In 2000, court records show Maxwell, a British socialite who had long been tied to Epstein, struck up a conversation with a 17-year-old girl outside a locker room at Mar-a-Lago. Her name was Virginia Giuffre, and she was a spa attendant at the club, having gotten the job through her father, who worked there as a maintenance man. According to Ms Giuffre, Maxwell offered her a job on the spot as a masseuse for Epstein after seeing that she was reading a book about massage, telling her that she did not need to have any experience. She said that when she was brought to Epstein's Palm Beach home, she found him lying naked on a table. Maxwell, she claimed, instructed her on how to massage him. 'They seemed like nice people,' she later testified, 'so I trusted them.' But over the next two years or so, Ms Giuffre claimed that she was forced by Epstein and Maxwell to have sex with a series of famous men, including Prince Andrew, a member of the British royal family. The prince has denied the accusations and declined to help federal prosecutors in their investigation of Epstein. Ms Giuffre, who died by suicide in April, always maintained that she was trafficked to the prince and other men, once telling the BBC that she had been 'passed around like a platter of fruit' to Epstein's powerful associates. Some women who were in Epstein's orbit have said they encountered Mr Trump during this period. One woman Maria Farmer, who has said she was victimised by Epstein and Maxwell, described an encounter with Mr Trump in 1995 at an office that Epstein once kept in New York City. An art student who had moved to New York City to pursue a career as a painter, Ms Farmer recalled in a 2019 interview that when she was introduced to Mr Trump, he eyed her, prompting Epstein to warn him, 'She's not for you.' Ms Farmer's mother Janice Swain said her daughter had described the interaction with Mr Trump around the time it occurred. Ms Stacey Williams, a former Sports Illustrated swimsuit model, has said she was groped by Mr Trump when she was introduced to him by Epstein, whom she was dating at the time. It was 1993, she said, and she was on a walk with Epstein on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan when he suggested that they pop into Trump Tower to say hello to Trump. Williams thought nothing of it at the time because, as she later put it, 'Jeffrey talked about Trump all the time.' After Mr Trump greeted them in a waiting area outside his office, Ms Williams said, he pulled her toward him, touching her breasts, waist and buttocks as if he was 'an octopus'. She said she later wondered whether she had been part of a challenge or wager between the two men. 'I definitely felt like I was a piece of meat delivered to that office as some sort of game,' she recalled to the Times in 2024. At the time, Mr Trump's presidential campaign denied that the episode had occurred, calling the allegations 'unequivocally false' and politically motivated. In an interview on July 18, Ms Williams said she was upset to hear Mr Trump referring to some of the Epstein story as a 'hoax' and 'boring' news. 'I mean, it's absurd,' she said of his speaking dismissively of the case. Parting ways Eventually, in late 2004, Mr Trump and Epstein ended up squaring off – this time, over a piece of real estate. It was the Maison de l'Amitié, a French Regency-style manse that sat along the ocean in Palm Beach. The two hypercompetitive men each had their lawyers bid on the property. Ultimately, Mr Trump came out ahead, purchasing it for US$41.35 million (S$53 million). There is little public record of the two men interacting after that. Mr Trump later told associates he had another reason for breaking from Epstein around that time: His longtime friend, he has said, acted inappropriately to the daughter of a member of Mar-a-Lago, and Mr Trump felt compelled to bar him from the club. Mr Brad Edwards, a lawyer who has represented many of Epstein's victims, said Mr Trump told him a similar story in 2009. Not long after the standoff over the beachfront mansion, the Palm Beach police received a tip that young women had been seen going in and out of Epstein's home. Four months later, there was a more substantial complaint from a woman who claimed that her 14-year-old stepdaughter had been paid US$300 by Epstein to give him a massage while she was undressed. That led to a sprawling undercover investigation that identified at least a dozen potential victims. Epstein hired a team of top lawyers to defend him – including Mr Alan Dershowitz, a Harvard law professor who would later represent Mr Trump, and Mr Ken Starr, the former independent counsel who investigated President Bill Clinton's affair with Monica Lewinsky. The two men helped negotiate a lenient plea deal with R. Alexander Acosta, who was then the US attorney for the Southern District of Florida. Under the deal, Epstein pleaded guilty in 2008 to state charges of soliciting prostitution from a minor. In exchange, he was granted immunity from federal charges, as were all of his potential co-conspirators. He also had to register as a sex offender. In the end, Epstein wound up serving almost 13 months in jail before he was released. For his part, Mr Trump largely steered clear of the controversy. But in February 2015, as he was gearing up for what would end up being a hard-fought campaign against Mrs Hillary Clinton, he sought to connect Epstein to her husband, the former president. Bill Clinton has 'got a lot of problems coming up, in my opinion, with the famous island with Jeffrey Epstein', Mr Trump told Fox News host Sean Hannity during an appearance at the Conservative Political Action Conference, referring to Epstein's private island where he resided and was suspected of trafficking underage girls. 'A lot of problems.' Mr Clinton has denied visiting the island or having any knowledge of Epstein's criminal behavior, and has said he wishes he had never met him. 'I Wasn't a Fan' In July 2019, Epstein was arrested again. Prosecutors from the public corruption unit of the US attorney's office in Manhattan charged him with sex trafficking and a conspiracy to traffic minors for sex. Mr Trump, then in his third year in the White House, immediately sought to distance himself from his old friend. 'I knew him like everybody in Palm Beach knew him,' he told reporters after the charges were revealed. 'I mean, people in Palm Beach knew him. He was a fixture in Palm Beach. I had a falling out with him a long time ago. I don't think I've spoken to him in 15 years. I wasn't a fan.' The new charges brought renewed scrutiny to the original plea deal. Days after Epstein's arrest, Mr Acosta, who had become Mr Trump's labour secretary, announced he would resign amid criticism of his handling of the case. Speaking to reporters about Mr Acosta's decision, Mr Trump reiterated that he had broken off his ties with Epstein 'many, many years ago.' He added: 'It shows you one thing: that I have good taste.' Asked if he had any suspicions that Epstein was molesting young women, Mr Trump replied, 'No, I had no idea.' The next month, after Epstein was found dead in his jail cell in Manhattan in what was later ruled a suicide, Mr Trump weighed in again, reviving what was by then a years-old effort from his first campaign. He shared a social media post that tried to link the death to Mr Clinton. Days later, when pressed about his unfounded claims of Mr Clinton's involvement, Mr Trump did not let up, calling for a full investigation, even though he offered no facts to support his allegations. 'Epstein had an island that was not a good place, as I understand it,' he said. 'And I was never there. So you have to ask: Did Bill Clinton go to the island?' When Mr Trump was asked about the arrest of Maxwell in the summer of 2020 on charges that included the enticement and trafficking of children, his answer left some of his own allies confused. 'I wish her well, whatever it is,' Mr Trump said. In recent weeks, right-wing influencers and Mr Trump's rank-and-file supporters expressed outrage over his administration's conclusion that there were no revelations to share about the case – not least because some of the president's top law enforcement officials, including Attorney General Pam Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel, had promised to reveal more information about Epstein's crimes. Mr Trump sought to quiet the demands, calling the Epstein scandal a 'hoax' made up by his Democratic adversaries. He also described it as a subject unworthy of further scrutiny. 'Are you still talking about Jeffrey Epstein?' Mr Trump asked reporters with exasperation at a Cabinet meeting July 8. 'This guy's been talked about for years.' NYTIMES
Straits Times
2 hours ago
- Straits Times
‘America has to come first': Trump wins favour with Native Americans
Find out what's new on ST website and app. Navajo Nation resident Gilberta Cortes, 42, who uses a generator for electricity, outside her home in Cameron, Arizona, as she waits for electricity from the power grid to reach her residence. TUBA CITY, Arizona - Fed up with rising gas prices, Ms Nita Mexican voted in November 2025 for Mr Donald Trump, who is increasingly popular among Native American communities which have long supported the political left. 'A lot of the younger ones are for him now, including friends of our grandkids,' the 77-year-old member of the Navajo Nation reservation told AFP. As a Republican voter, Ms Mexican was used to being in the minority in Tuba City, a small, remote hamlet in the Arizona desert, located on a plateau part of the vast Native American reservation. But in recent years, she has witnessed a change in attitudes towards the divisive US president. Like her, some neighbours have begun to blame immigration from Latin America for the unemployment and drug trade plaguing the impoverished reservation. 'Trump is cleaning up America, it's a good thing,' said Ms Mexican, a former power plant employee who praised Mr Trump's hardline deportation policy. 'America has to come first,' she said. 'Us Natives, we are Americans and we should have the jobs first.' Top stories Swipe. Select. Stay informed. Singapore 1 in 3 vapes here laced with etomidate; MOH working with MHA to list it as illegal drug: Ong Ye Kung Singapore HSA extends hotline hours, launches new platform to report vaping offences Singapore Tampines regional centre set to get more homes, offices and public amenities Multimedia How to make the most out of small homes in Singapore World Diplomats dismissed: Inside the overhaul reshaping Trump's foreign policy Life US tech CEO Andy Byron resigns after viral Coldplay 'kiss cam' video Opinion I thought I was a 'chill' parent. Then came P1 registration Singapore 'God and government are the only things beyond our control,' says Group CEO Rising inflation is an enduring concern in this isolated region, where cars are essential for getting around. Ms Mexican and her husband Joe spend US$40 (S$51) a day on gasoline to tend to their sheep, which are kept in a pen some 40km away. The couple also provide financial support for some of their unemployed grandchildren. 'Sometimes we don't have enough to get groceries for the both of us,' Ms Mexican said, adding that she would like Mr Trump to 'slow down' on his tariffs targeting multiple imported products . Surprising inroads Spanning the southwestern states of Arizona, New Mexico and Utah, the Navajo Nation is the largest Native American reservation in the United States. Mr Trump made surprising inroads in the 2025 presidential election in the region that has been a Democratic stronghold since the 1980s. The Republican leader notably won by 17.1 points in Navajo County, double his margin of victory from four years earlier, and lost by just 19 points in Apache County, down from 33.6 in 2020. A similar trend was observed nationwide, from North Carolina to Montana, with Native American voters overall backing Democratic candidate Kamala Harris, but with much less enthusiasm than in the past. Like with Latino voters, more men than women from the minority group voted for Mr Trump, according to polls. At her home, which does not get electricity, Ms Gilberta Cortes said she 'butts heads ... all the time' with her 21-year-old son, who voted for Trump. 'He talks about inflation, he says that cartels are ruining everything for Native Americans,' Cortes said. The 42-year-old mother is not as impressed by the billionaire president. She resents his mockery of the Native American origins of Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren, whom he regularly refers to as 'Pocahontas'. 'Favouritism' Laws enacted by Mr Trump during his first term to probe the disappearance of thousands of Native American women did not persuade her either. 'It was just favouritism so that he would get our votes,' said the left-wing voter. And the president's anti-immigration rhetoric and policies have unsettled her further. Several Navajos have been stopped in recent months by immigration agents because of their skin color, according to some reservation officials. 'You see a lot of racism ... When I go out, I feel like I'm just walking on eggshells,' said Ms Cortes. Mr Trump's climate change skepticism is also a concern, with many Native Americans claiming a spiritual connection to the environment. Ms Cortes has had to forbid her children from playing outside in the summer because of heat waves, which are growing more intense in the Arizona desert. 'If he drills oil like crazy and he makes cuts to environmental agencies, it's gonna make things worse in the long run,' Ms Cortes said. Mr Elbert Yazzie thinks some of his friends will soon regret their decision. Mr Trump's recently passed signature spending bill is expected to shrink the federal food assistance program, among other cuts that could hit out at low-income Americans. 'They voted for him because they thought there would be more jobs for us American citizens. But instead, he's cutting off food stamps,' Mr Yazzie told AFP from his caravan. 'That's going to affect a lot of people around here.' AFP
Straits Times
5 hours ago
- Straits Times
Russia is gaining ground in Ukraine, but can its economy keep pace?
Analysts say Russia wants to methodically destroy the Ukrainian military, as Moscow slowly advances its own troops. KYIV - Russia's summer offensive in Ukraine is gaining ground as its forces attack on multiple fronts. In June, the country's numerical advantages in troops and air power produced its biggest monthly gains in territory since the beginning of the year. Russia's aims are not simply territorial. Analysts say it wants to methodically destroy the Ukrainian military, as Moscow slowly advances its own troops. The biggest challenge for Moscow may be far from the front lines, as the Russian economy can no longer keep pace with escalating military spending. For Ukraine, its ability to sustain the war may also be decided far away, as the Trump administration sends mixed signals about its desire and ability to continue arming Kyiv's forces. Earlier in July, President Donald Trump said that Nato countries would buy weapons from the United States to give to Ukraine. The ground war Over the past two months, Russian units have been able to step up their attacks on multiple fronts, from Ukraine's Sumy region in the north to the steppes of Zaporizhzhia in the south. Russia now controls more than two-thirds of Ukraine's Donetsk region – the main theatre of the ground war. Russian forces have carved out a 10-mile-deep pocket around the Ukrainian troops defending the crucial city of Kostiantynivka, partly surrounding them from the east, south and west. Russia has also entered the Dnipropetrovsk region of eastern Ukraine for the first time in more than three years of war. Ukrainian soldiers say the Russian army uses two main tactics to advance on the battlefield: pinning down Ukrainian troops with drones, shells and glide bombs before attacking enemy lines with relentless squad assaults. Top stories Swipe. Select. Stay informed. Singapore Tampines regional centre set to get more homes, offices and public amenities Multimedia How to make the most out of small homes in Singapore Life US tech CEO Andy Byron resigns after viral Coldplay 'kiss cam' video Asia From toy to threat: 'Killer kites' bring chaos to Indonesian airspace Opinion I thought I was a 'chill' parent. Then came P1 registration Singapore 'God and government are the only things beyond our control,' says Group CEO Business Me and My Money: He overcomes a $100k setback to build a thriving online tuition business Asia At least 34 killed as tourist boat capsizes in Vietnam's Halong Bay Ukraine responds by sending experienced, drone-equipped units to help plug the gaps, a tactic that has been compared to sending firefighters to contain flare-ups. But Russia's relentless attacks are placing a strain on Ukraine's outmanned army. Those attacks helped Russia make its largest territorial gains of the year in June. According to Deep State, a Ukrainian group that maps the conflict using drone footage and its links with the Ukrainian military, Russia gained more than 214 square miles of Ukrainian territory in June, up from 173 square miles in May. Putting those gains in context, Russia is capturing less than 0.1 per cent of Ukraine's vast territory each month. At that pace, it would take Moscow several years to occupy all of the four Ukrainian regions it declared annexed in 2022. The air war Away from the front lines, Russia has been increasing the toll it inflicts on the Ukrainian population at large by pummeling the country with mass-produced exploding drones. Over the past weeks, Russia has been setting records on the number of drones it sends into Ukraine. Russia recently launched 728 exploding drones and decoys in one nightly barrage, according to Ukraine's air force. As Russia builds up its drone-making infrastructure, military analysts expect Moscow to routinely launch more than 1,000 drones per volley by autumn. Kyiv was the main target earlier this month of an intense overnight bombardment, which killed at least two people and wounded 25 others, according to local officials. The Russian barrages also include cruise missiles and ballistic missiles. Ukraine has a variety of air-defence systems – including improvised systems like fishing nets to snare drones – but the ballistic missiles can be shot down by only one air-defence system in Ukraine's arsenal: American Patriot missiles. But after a series of reversals by the Trump administration – which paused military aid and then agreed to sell weapons to European allies, which will then give them to Ukraine – Ukrainians are hopeful but cautious about whether they can count on US military support. Officials in Nato countries have proposed a plan where the Trump administration could sell weapons to its allies, which would then give them to Ukraine. That would be a financial windfall for the United States, and could also shield Mr Trump from accusations of direct involvement in the war. Last week, Mr Trump said he intended to adopt that strategy. Russia's goals Russia is not only seeking to win new territory in Ukraine. 'Its goal is to destroy Ukraine's military potential, its army,' Mr Valery Shiryaev, an independent Russian military analyst, said in an interview with Redaktsiya, an independent Russian news channel. 'If there is no army – the state would be defenceless.' The Kremlin has repeatedly said that it would continue pressing on in Ukraine until it can coerce Kyiv into accepting Moscow's peace terms. Russia has demanded that Ukraine recognize Russian territorial gains, shrink its military, designate Russian as an official language in Ukraine and formally commit to Ukrainian neutrality, which would rule out joining Nato. These demands are considered completely unacceptable by Ukraine's political leadership and its citizens. The Russian economy Analysts say that Russia may be spending unsustainable sums to fund the war, fuelling inflation, even as its oil and gas industry suffers from low energy prices, caused in part by Trump's tariffs. Oil exports finance about a third of Russia's total federal budget. At the end of June, President Vladimir Putin said that Russia was spending 6.3 per cent of its gross domestic product, or US$172.5 billion (S$221 billion), on its military, which was 'a lot' and that the country had 'paid for it with inflation.' The country's central bank set interest rates at 20 per cent to keep prices in check. 'We are planning to cut the defence expenses next year and the year after, as well during the next three years,' Mr Putin said. If he follows this plan and Russia reduces military spending, its ability to wage war will inevitably suffer. M.M.I., a leading Russian news outlet on Telegram dedicated to the economy, called the situation with the country's budget a 'catastrophe.' Spurred by record-high military expenditures, Russia's budget deficit has reached US$47 billion over the first half of the year. Because of lower prices, oil and gas revenues have dropped by more than 16 per cent, the country's Finance Ministry said. Casualties After releasing a few official death tolls early in the war, Russia stopped publishing any information about its losses. But teams of researchers and experts have sifted through publicly available data, like obituaries and inheritance records, to identify and verify casualties. To date, they have confirmed more than 115,000 deaths in the Russian military. A study in June found that nearly 1 million Russian troops had been killed or wounded in the war. According to Mr Dmitri Kuznets, a military analyst with the Russian news outlet Meduza, which was outlawed by the Kremlin and operates from Latvia, both Ukraine and Russia are now losing between 250 and 300 service members each day, based on available data. In 2025, Russia has still been able to attract an average of about 30,000 new service members per month, according to government statements and an analysis of budgetary data conducted by Dr Janis Kluge, a researcher at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs. But it was able to do so only by spending lavishly on its military, offering outsize sign-up bonuses and salaries. 'Both sides have devoted last year to increase sustainability – so that they could continue fighting no matter what happens,' Mr Kuznets said. NYTIMES
