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epa11045536 A large-scale billboard shows a Russian soldier with the slogan ‘Defending the Motherland is our profession. Join us. Contract service in the Armed Forces' in Leningrad region, Russia, 27 December 2023. On 24 February 2022, Russian troops entered Ukrainian territory in what the Russian president declared a 'Special Military Operation', starting an armed conflict that has provoked destruction and a humanitarian crisis. EPA/ANATOLY MALTSEV