Russia could increase Ukraine attacks, says Volodymyr Zelensky

Mr Zelensky also told AFP more soldiers were desperately needed at the frontlines.

“There are a serious number of brigades, existing brigades, which, a large number of them, are empty. We need to do this so that the guys have a normal rotation. Then their morale will be improved.”

A new mobilisation law aimed at addressing this came into force on Saturday.

Under the new rules, the age that people can be conscripted into the war has been lowered from 27 to 25 in an effort to boost recruit numbers.

The flood of volunteers Ukraine saw following Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022 has now dried up. Most of those who wanted to fight are either dead, injured or still stuck at the front waiting to be relieved by new recruits.

In February, Mr Zelensky announced that 31,000 Ukrainian soldiers had been killed during Russia’s full-scale invasion.

Typically, Ukrainian officials do not make casualty figures public, and other estimates are much higher.

BBC Russian, in a joint project with the Mediazona website, has established the deaths of more than 50,000 Russian soldiers. But it estimates the total number to be greater than that.