 Ukraine expects French Mirage-2000 fighters the sky war with Russia intensifies. Ukrainians want Mirage-2000Ds that French plane maker Dassault optimised for ground attack missions. But French officials also have mentioned air defence optimised Mirage-2000Cs. According to Forbes, the single-engine supersonic Mirage-2000 with its distinctive delta-shaped wing was the French Air Force's main fighter for 20 years starting in the mid-80s. It began leaving service as new twin-engine Rafales arrived in meaningful numbers in the early 2000s. The ultimate version of the Mirage-2000C in French service had a single seat, an RDI pulse-doppler radar, the M53 P2 engine, a night vision compatible cockpit and provisioned for MICA radar-guided air-to-air missiles as well as laser-guided bombs. The last few Mirage-2000Cs out of around 120 Dassaults built for the French Air Force finally retired in 2022. It's these old but well-maintained airframes an unnamed French official apparently was referring to when last year he told France 24 that one option for Paris was to donate to Kiev 13 Mirage-2000Cs that still had a bit of potential. Those jets could reinforce the Ukrainian Air Force's fleet of 40 or so 1980s vintage Sukhoi Su-27s that for two years now have patrolled Ukrainian airspace and occasionally flown low-level bombing sorties. The surplus Mirage-2000Cs could not reinforce the swing-wing Sukhoi Su-24 bombers that carry Ukraine's French-made scalp, e.g. land-attack cruise missiles. The 200-mile range scalps are some of Ukraine's best deep-strike munitions. Two-seat Mirage-2000Cs could bolster the two or three dozen Su-24s, however. One of the main differences between the Mirage-2000C and the newer Mirage-2000D beside the additional seat in the latter is that the Ds are compatible with scalps as well as with most of France's other precision air-to-ground munitions. The French Air Force is upgrading for another few years of service 48 of the 86 Mirage-2000Ds that Dassault built, adding new munitions including MICA missiles. The rest of the D-models are retiring. In theory, they're available for onward transfer to Ukraine according to Forbes. Russian officials plan to recruit 400,000 new contract soldiers for battle in Ukraine. The Kremlin and the Defense Ministry plan to continue their campaign to recruit contract servicemen for the Russian army this year. Russia's regions have already received the 2024 contract soldier recruitment plan from Moscow and its quota is approximately the same as in 2023, a high-ranking source familiar with the military leadership's plans said to the Moscow Times. Nationwide, authorities expect to find approximately 400,000 people to agree to go to the front this year, the source said. Another person taking part in Kremlin meetings confirmed that the regions will be responsible for finding and recruiting new contract servicemen this year. He did not give an exact quota for this year merely saying it will be similar to what it was in 2023 or slightly less, but definitely not more. He stressed, since the spring of 2023, authorities have carried out a mass campaign to promote contract service in the army across Russia's regions. The main thing that lures people to war is money, while the average salary in Russia is about 70,000 rubles or $760. The monthly salary of a contract serviceman starts at 204,000 rubles or $2,200. Bonuses may also be awarded for taking part in offensive actions and capturing Ukrainian equipment, for example. Putin's government also arrested Navalny's body. Mother of late politician is being pressured. The mother of Russia's late opposition leader Alexei Navalny said that she has seen her son's body and that she is resisting strong pressure by authorities to agree to a secret burial outside the public eye. Lyudmila Navalnya said investigators allowed her to see her son's body in the city morgue. She said she reaffirmed the demand to give Navalny's body to her and protested what she described as authorities trying to force her to agree to a secret burial. They are blackmailing me. They are setting conditions where, when and how my son should be buried. She said in a video statement from the Arctic city of Salekhard. They want to do it secretly without a mourning ceremony. Navalny's spokesman Kira Yamish said on X that his mother was also shown a medical certificate stating that the 47-year-old politician died of natural causes. Yamish didn't specify what those were. Navalny's mother has filed a lawsuit at a court in Salekhard contesting officials' refusal to release her son's body. A closed-door hearing has been scheduled for March 4. She appealed to Putin to release her son's remains so that she could bury him with dignity. Navalnya said that she had spent nearly 24 hours in the Salekhard office of the investigative committee where officials told her that they have determined the politician's cause of death and have the paperwork ready, but she has to agree to a secret funeral. They want to take me to the outskirts of the cemetery to a fresh grave and say, here lies your son. I don't agree to this. I want you too, to whom Alexei is dear, for whom his death was a personal tragedy, to have the opportunity to say goodbye to him, she said. Navalnya accused the authorities of threatening her. Looking into my eyes, they say that if I do not agree to a secret funeral, they will do something with my son's body. Investigator Voropeev openly told me, time is not on your side, the corpse is decomposing. She said, reiterating her demand to release her son's body immediately.