On Thursday, May 25, the Russian Ministry of Defense published a report on the mobilization last September. Here it was reported, among other things, that the Russian army had problems related to the fact that “a section of the people was not ready to perform military duties.”

The report notes that the lack of combat readiness is due to “enormous pressure for information, especially from the online blogging community”. The Russian invasion of Ukraine is not only covered by state-controlled and regime-controlled media, but also by Russian military bloggers.

The report was removed from the Ministry of Defense website shortly after it was published, but it can still be read by a Internet Archive. It was the Russian independent newspaper Insider who mentioned it for the first time.

In addition to the fact that people are not ready for military service, the army is also struggling to “deliver military equipment and deploy personnel,” the now-deleted report says.

It also states that it is “necessary” to create a number of new brigades and units in 2023, and that 5 billion rubles (about NOK 700 million, ed.’s note) have been allocated from the authorities’ reserve fund to “motivate” those who work with mobilization, conscription and conscription.

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Ukraine is ready for a counterattack

On Saturday morning, President Volodymyr Zelensky said that Ukraine was ready to launch its own counter-offensive to recapture Russian-occupied regions.

– We firmly believe that we will succeed, he said in an interview with the Wall Street Journal, which was published on Saturday.

– I don’t know how long it will take. To be honest, it can go in many ways, completely different. But we’ll do it, and we’re ready, he says.

In May, Zelensky said Ukraine should receive more armored vehicles from Western countries before the long-declared counteroffensive could begin. Subsequently, Zelenskyj attended a number of meetings abroad where he pressed for more defense material to be delivered.

United States: No cease-fire in Ukraine without a Russian withdrawal

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has said that a ceasefire in Ukraine can only be achieved as part of a Russian peace and withdrawal agreement.

In a speech in Finland on Friday, Blinken said the ceasefire should be included in a just and lasting peace agreement – one that includes the withdrawal of Russian forces from the country.

The foreign minister said that a cease-fire that only locks up the current front lines and allows President Vladimir Putin to secure control over the occupied territories is not a lasting and just peace.

– In his speech at the city hall in Helsinki, Blinken said that this would have legitimized Russia’s land theft, rewarded the aggressor and punished the victim.

Allowing Russia to keep a fifth of the now-occupied Ukrainian territory, Blinken decided, would send the wrong message to the Russian leadership and to other potential aggressors around the world.

He described the invasion of Ukraine as a major strategic mistake from Russia’s point of view. Moreover, he addressed the Russian people directly and said that “the United States is not their enemy.”