Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a decree on spring call-up for military service affecting 147,000 people aged 18 to 27.
The Russian agencies report it.
Furthermore, according to Russian media, the authorities are preparing to launch a major
recruitment campaign to enroll 400,000 soldiers
, the regional administrations are trying to achieve the goal by forcing men to enlist.
The intelligence of the British Ministry of Defense writes it in its report posted on Twitter, explaining that Moscow has chosen a "model of volunteering" also to minimize dissent.
But, the campaign is highly unlikely to attract 400,000 real volunteers.
However, it will take more than personnel alone to rebuild fighting power in Ukraine.
Xi evaluates Zelensky's invitation
China has let Ukraine know, through diplomatic channels, that it is for now "carefully evaluating" President Volodymyr Zelensky's invitation to President Xi Jinping to visit Kiev, or at least to have a direct telephone conversation after the recent summit of the Beijing leader in Moscow with Vladimir Putin.
This was stated by the Ukrainian Foreign Minister, Dmytro Kuleba, during a video intervention at a meeting promoted by the British Chatham House.
According to Kuleba, the 12 points evoked by Xi on the sidelines of his visit to Russia on a hypothetical future peace were a way to "test the waters".
Von der Leyen, China has a role in promoting peace
"We are concerned about what is behind China's return to the global stage. As a permanent member of the Security Council, China has a responsibility to safeguard the principles and values that underpin the UN Charter. And it has a responsibility to play a constructive role in promoting a just peace. But this peace can only be just if it is based on the defense of Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity".
This was stated by the president of the Commission Ursula von der Leyen speaking on relations between the EU and China where the number one of the European executive will go next week.
"Far from being discouraged by the heinous and illegal invasion of Ukraine, President Xi maintains his 'friendship without limits' with Putin's Russia. But there
it was a change of dynamic in relations between China and Russia.
The visit clearly showed that China sees Putin's weakness as a way to increase its influence over Russia.
And it is clear that the balance of power in this relationship - which for most of the past century has favored Russia - has now reversed."
007 Russians, only a few in Putin's circle knew about the invasion
Only three or four people in Vladimir Putin's inner circle knew about the preparations for the invasion of Ukraine.
Together with the Russian leader, the Secretary of the Security Council Nikolai Patrushev especially made the decision to start the war.
This was stated in an interview with Gazeta.ua by Ukrainian Defense Intelligence spokesman Andriy Yusov.
"The decision to start a war - he said - is the consequence of the Russian government model. Russia is a closed society, even within the top-down dictatorial system. The consequences are catastrophic," said Yusov.
Dissident, if Putin dies the war would end tomorrow
"If Vladimir Putin slipped on a banana peel and died tomorrow, the war in Ukraine would end immediately": a key opposition figure in Russia, Leonid Volkov, told Australian national ABC TV , chief of staff to imprisoned opposition leader Alexei Navalny.
"The invasion has neither the support of Russian public opinion nor of the elites - he says - and is entirely a project of the president".