The battles are intensifying in Donbas and Russia mobilized 400,000 recruits to fight

The Russian army is trying to extend full control over the Donbas region, while the Kiev forces continue to resist with military and logistical support from the West.

In the latest developments, Western officials, revealed Russia’s readiness for a new mobilization process that includes 400,000 recruits who will join the fighting in Ukraine.

Bloomberg said that Moscow will rely in the new mobilization process on Russian retirees and volunteers, and the military mobilization in Russia will be contractual, not compulsory.

The chief of staff of the Ukrainian army said that the battle of Bakhmut had begun to subside, while the commander of the infantry forces said that the Russian forces were exhausted near Bakhmut.

Simultaneously, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said, on Saturday, that Kiev is currently unable to launch a counterattack due to a lack of weapons.

“We cannot yet start the counterattack,” Zelensky said in an interview.

Without American tanks, artillery and missile launchers, we cannot send our brave soldiers to the front lines.

Zelensky also stressed that there is a significant shortage of ammunition and indicated that the Kiev authorities are waiting for their supply from partners.

The Japanese newspaper which conduct the Intervied with the Ukrainian president noted that the interview took place on the train when Zelensky was on his way to Kiev after visiting the Ukrainian-controlled part of Kherson Province.

French President Emmanuel Macron had confirmed, on Friday that after listening to Zelensky via video link, European Union leaders assured the Ukrainian president that they would help Kiev win the conflict against Russia, which launched its own military operation in Ukraine on February 24, 2022.

The day before, support EU leaders plan to accelerate ammunition transfers to Ukraine, joint purchases of artillery shells, and the development of Europe’s own military production capabilities.

On the ground, Russian forces attacked the northern and southern parts of the front in the Donbas region in eastern Ukraine, on Friday, in continuation of their attacks despite Kiev’s assurances that Moscow’s pressure was slowing down near the city of Bakhmut.

Ukrainian military reports described intense fighting in the northern sector of the front line from Liman to Kobyansk, as well as in the south at Avdiivka on the outskirts of the Russian-controlled city of Donetsk.

The two regions are among the main targets of Russia’s offensives launched over the winter to take full control of Ukraine’s industrial Donbass region.

The Russian offensive has so far yielded only minor gains, despite the deaths of thousands of soldiers on both sides in the bloodiest battle of the war.

In addition, former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev who holds the position of deputy head of the Russian Security Council, threatened on Telegram, by postings words by former Soviet leader Joseph Stalin dating back to 1941, aloud to the leaders of the arms industry in Russia, in an attempt to promote local arms production.

Medvedev posted video online of himself reading a World War Two-era telegram from Stalin during a meeting with the National Armaments Committee.

Stalin wrote a letter in 1941 to a factory asking him to speed up the production of tank parts, saying that “if it becomes clear within a few days that you are violating your duty towards the homeland, I will begin to beat you like criminals”.

Then Medvedev turned to a group of leaders of the Russian arms industry, saying, “Colleagues, I want you to listen to me, and remember the words of General (Stalin)”.

Medvedev, a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, has been a staunch supporter of what Moscow calls a “special operation” it has been carrying out in Ukraine for more than a year.

Many Russian media reported on his unusual statements and his decision to quote Stalin.

Shortly after publishing his videos, Medvedev also posted excerpts from an interview with Russian journalists, in which he said that Russia is actually fighting a war against all of NATO.

In the past few months, the deputy head of the Russian Security Council made several controversial statements, including hints at the use of nuclear weapons in the context of the current confrontation with the West over the Ukraine war.